


silent lucidity - jungkook x reader - 70s au

by kenthedoll



Category: La Divina Commedia | The Divine Comedy - Dante Alighieri, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1970s, Angels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Astrology, Blood and Violence, Dante Alighieri References, Demon Jung Hoseok | J-Hope, Demon Park Jimin (BTS), Demons, Devil Kim Seokjin | Jin, Discrimination, Dysfunctional Relationships, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Familiars, Flashbacks, Fluff, Ghost Reader, Ghosts, Gore, Greek Mythology - Freeform, Heavy Angst, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Inferno (La Divina Commedia | The Divine Comedy - Dante Alighieri), Jeon Jungkook Has PTSD, Jeon Jungkook is An Addict, Jeon Jungkook is Whipped, Kim Namjoon | RM is The Death, Magic, Major Character Injury, Min Yoongi | Suga is the Ferryman of Hell, Mortal Jeon Jungkook, Multi, Near Death Experiences, Psychological Torture, Rebellion, Reincarnation, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Rituals, SCRYING, Satanic Imagery & Symbolism, Smut, Stalking, Succubi & Incubi, Suicidal Thoughts, Tarot, The 9 Circles of Hell, Torture, Use of a Spirit/Ouija Board, Witch Kim Taehyung | V, Witches, angel numbers, animal death mention, inspired by:, murder mention, mythical creatures, non-consensual consumption of an aphrodisiac, overdose mention
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:41:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27476728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kenthedoll/pseuds/kenthedoll
Summary: ❤️ NOT ON HOLD, JUST SLOW UPDATES ❤️Accompanied by a powerful witch, mortal Jeon Jungkook faces the 9 torturous circles of Hell, with the intention of rescuing the soul of his late fiancé YN from the clutches of Lucifer, who believes she is Lilith -- the Queen of Demons -- reincarnate.Inspired by:- "Inferno," the first part of Dante Alighieri's "The Divine Comedy."- The songs "Johnny Ringo," "Johnny's Revenge," and "Johnny's Rebellion," (in that order) by Crown The Empire© ken-the-doll 2020
Relationships: Jeon Jungkook/Reader, Kim Seokjin | Jin/Lilith
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	1. 🔥 trailer + soundtrack 🔥

**Author's Note:**

> Title from the song "Silent Lucidity" by, Queensrÿche
> 
> THIS STORY HAS BEEN TRANSFERRED FROM MY WATTPAD ACCOUNT (@ ken-the-doll) BECAUSE OF WATTPAD'S INCREASING RESTRICTIONS

**_[Watch the trailer here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dhwy18B5Mwc) _ **

+

**[ _This playlist is available on Spotify!  
  
  
_ ](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0UBooaA5DqRVES2vDzHfFg?si=kUlG9N-4SXqHW4su1ep4iQ) **

  1. Silent Lucidity - **Queensrÿche  
  
**
  2. 11 Minutes - **YUNGBLUD ft. Halsey & Travis Barker  
**
  3. 25 - **The Pretty Reckless** **  
**

  4. Afterlife - **Avenged Sevenfold**

  5. Ain't No Mountain High Enough - **Marvin Gaye ft. Tammi Terrell**

  6. all the good girls go to hell - **Billie Eilish  
  
**
  7. And The Snakes Start To Sing - **Bring Me The Horizon  
  
**
  8. Angel - **Jimi Hendrix  
**
  9. Angels Like You - **Miley Cyrus**

  10. Antichrist - **The 1975  
  
**
  11. Aphrodite - **RINI  
  
**
  12. Arcane Magic - **HANA  
**
  13. Are You Even Real? - **James Blake**

  14. Are You Man Enough? - ****Four Tops  
**  
**
  15. Army of Me - **Björk  
  
**
  16. Ask Me - **Ecstasy, Passion & Pain  
  
**
  17. As Long As You Love Me - **Justin Bieber ft. Big Sean  
  
**
  18. At Last - **Etta James  
  
**
  19. Autumn Leaves - **BTS  
  
**
  20. Awake - **BTS  
  
**
  21. Baby I Call Hell - **Deap Vally  
  
**
  22. Baby, I'm Yours - **Barbara Lewis  
  
**
  23. Bad Karma - **Ida Maria  
  
**
  24. Bad Moon Rising - **Creedence Clearwater Revival  
  
**
  25. Barracuda - **Heart  
  
**
  26. Bat Out of Hell - **Meat Loaf  
  
**
  27. Before the fever - **Grimes  
  
**
  28. Black Orchid - **HANA  
  
**
  29. Black Swan - **BTS  
**
  30. Blasphemy - **Bring Me The Horizon**

  31. Blood Hands - **Royal Blood  
  
**
  32. Blood Sweat & Tears - **BTS  
**
  33. Blue & Grey - **BTS**

  34. Bohemian Rhapsody - **Queen  
  
**
  35. Born To Be My Baby - **Bon Jovi  
  
**
  36. Born To Die - **Lana Del Rey  
  
**
  37. Burn It - **Agust D ft. MAX  
  
**
  38. bury a friend - **Billie Eilish  
  
**
  39. Butterfly - **BTS  
  
**
  40. Call Me When You're Sober - **Evanescence  
  
**
  41. Can You Feel My Heart - **Bring Me The Horizon  
  
**
  42. Careless Whisper - **George Michael**
  43. Cocaine - **Moon Fever**

  44. Cold - **Aqualung ft. Lucy Schwartz  
  
**
  45. Come And Get Your Love - **Redbone  
  
**
  46. Come As You Are - **Nirvana  
  
**
  47. Coming Down - **Halsey  
  
**
  48. A Conversation with Death - **Khemmis  
  
**
  49. Crazy In Love (Remix) - **Beyoncé  
  
**
  50. Creatura - **HANA  
  
**
  51. Dance In The Dark - **Lady Gaga  
  
**
  52. Dark Paradise - **Lana Del Rey  
  
**
  53. <demons> - **Kim Petras  
  
**
  54. Devil's Advocate - **The Neighbourhood  
  
**
  55. The Devil's Bleeding Crown - **Volbeat  
**
  56. The Devil's Plaything - **Backworld**

  57. Disco Inferno - ** **The Trammps  
**  
**
  58. Disco Queen - ****Hot Chocolate  
**  
**
  59. DNA. - **Kendrick Lamar  
**
  60. Dragula - **Rob Zombie**

  61. Drug Dealer - **Macklemore ft. Ariana DeBoo**
  62. The Drugs Don't Work - **The Verve**

  63. The Drug In Me Is Reimagined - **Falling In Reverse**

  64. Dogs of War - **Blues Saraceno  
  
**
  65. Don't Know What To Do - **BLACKPINK  
  
**
  66. Don't Leave Me - **BTS  
  
**
  67. End of the World - **Juliet Simms  
  
** ****
  68. The End of the World - **Skeeter Davis  
  
**
  69. Even In Death - **Evanescence  
  
**
  70. Everybody Dies - **Kim Petras  
**
  71. Every Breath You Take - **The Police**

  72. (Everything I Do) I Do It For You - **Bryan Adams  
  
**
  73. Eyes on Fire - **Blue Foundation  
**
  74. Far Too Young To Die - **Panic! At The Disco**

  75. Fiction - **Avenged Sevenfold**

  76. Fill the Crown - **Poppy  
  
**
  77. Fire - **Ohio Players  
  
**
  78. Fireproof - **One Direction  
  
**
  79. Follow You - **Bring Me The Horizon  
  
**
  80. For Whom The Bell Tolls - **Metallica  
**
  81. Freak On A Leash - **Korn**

  82. Fucked Up - ****Bahari  
  
**** ****
  83. Get Free - **Lana Del Rey  
  
**
  84. Ghost - **Halsey  
  
**
  85. Ghost Of You - **5 Seconds of Summer  
  
**
  86. Go - **Grimes ft. Blood Diamonds  
**
  87. god.drugs.u - **Luna Shadows**

  88. God is a woman - **Ariana Grande  
  
**
  89. Gods & Monsters - **Lana Del Rey  
  
**
  90. Going To Hell - **The Pretty Reckless  
  
**
  91. Going Under - **Evanescence  
  
**
  92. Got Love - **Tove Lo  
  
**
  93. Graveyard - **Halsey  
  
**
  94. Hallelujah - **Rufus Wainwright  
  
**
  95. Halo On Fire - **Metallica  
  
**
  96. Heaven Knows - **The Pretty Reckless  
  
**
  97. Heavy Is The Weight - **Memphis May Fire ft. Andy Mineo  
  
**
  98. Hellfire - **Barns Courtney  
  
**
  99. Hello - **Evanescence  
  
**
  100. Heretic - **Avenged Sevenfold  
  
**
  101. Here Without You - **3 Doors Down  
**
  102. Highway to Hell - **AC/DC**

  103. Hit Me With Your Best Shot - **ADONA  
  
**
  104. Holding Out for a Hero - **Bonnie Tyler  
  
**
  105. Hot Stuff - **Donna Summer  
  
**
  106. House of Cards - **BTS  
  
**
  107. i don't wanna die... - **Kim Petras  
**
  108. I Feel Like A God - **DeathbyRomy**

  109. If I Can't Have You - ****Bee Gees  
**  
**
  110. I'll Follow You - **Shinedown  
  
**
  111. ilomilo - **Billie Eilish  
  
**
  112. I'm A Believer - **The Monkees  
  
**
  113. I'm A Firefighter - **Cigarettes After Sex  
**
  114. In My Blood - **The Veronicas**

  115. In The Name of Love - **Martin Garrix ft. Bebe Rexha  
**
  116. In The Next Life - **Kim Petras**

  117. Intro: Boy Meets Evil - **BTS  
  
**
  118. I Say a Little Prayer - **Aretha Franklin  
  
**
  119. It's All Coming Back to Me Now - **Céline Dion  
  
**
  120. It's Been a Long, Long Time - **Harry James  
  
**
  121. It Will Rain - **Bruno Mars  
  
**
  122. I Walk The Line - **Halsey  
**
  123. I Will Build You a Rome - **Cain's Offering**

  124. I Will Survive - ** **Gloria Gaynor  
**  
**
  125. I Won't Give Up - **Jason Mraz  
** **  
**
  126. Johnny Ringo - **Crown The Empire  
  
**
  127. Johnny's Revenge - **Crown The Empire  
  
**
  128. Johnny's Rebellion - **Crown The Empire  
  
**
  129. Joke's On You - **Charlotte Lawrence  
  
**
  130. Judas - **Lady Gaga  
  
**
  131. Kill V. Maim - **Grimes  
  
**
  132. Knife Under My Pillow - **Maggie Lindemann  
  
**
  133. Knockin' On Heaven's Door - **Guns N' Roses (cover of Bob Dylan)  
  
**
  134. Lay Me Down - **Sam Smith  
  
**
  135. Leave Out All The Rest - **Linkin Park  
  
**
  136. Lie - **BTS  
  
**
  137. Light Me Up - **The Pretty Reckless  
  
**
  138. Lilith - **Ellise  
**
  139. Live And Let Die - **Guns N' Roses (cover of Paul McCartney & Wings)**

  140. Livin' On A Prayer - **Bon Jovi**

  141. Louder than bombs - **BTS  
  
**
  142. lovely - **Billie Eilish ft. Khalid  
  
**
  143. Love Of My Life - **Queen  
  
**
  144. Love The Way You Lie (Part II) - **Rihanna ft. Eminem  
  
**
  145. Medieval Warfare - **Grimes  
  
**
  146. Miss You - **Louis Tomlinson  
  
**
  147. Monster - **STARSET  
  
**
  148. More Than A Woman - **Bee Gees  
  
**
  149. My Immortal - **Evanescence  
  
**
  150. Naked Soul - **Last Heroes ft. Liel Kolet  
  
**
  151. Never Forget You - **Zara Larsson  
  
**
  152. Never Giving Up - **Of Mice & Men  
  
**
  153. Never Gonna Give You Up - **Rick Astley  
  
**
  154. Never Not - **Lauv  
  
**
  155. Never Tear Us Apart - **Paloma Faith  
**
  156. Night Crawling - **Miley Cyrus ft. Billy Idol**

  157. Nightmare - **Avenged Sevenfold  
  
**
  158. Nights In White Satin - **The Moody Blues  
  
**
  159. No Air - **Jordin Sparks ft. Chris Brown  
  
**
  160. Nothing's Gonna Hurt You Baby - **Cigarettes After Sex  
  
**
  161. Oats In The Water - **Ben Howard  
**
  162. Oblivion - **Grimes**

  163. ON - **BTS  
**
  164. Only Angels Have Wings - **Nicole Dollanganger**

  165. Only You - **The Pretty Reckless**

  166. On My Way Out - **Getter ft. Joji  
  
**
  167. Patience - **Guns N' Roses  
  
**
  168. Personal Hell - **Kim Petras  
  
** ****
  169. Pin - **Grimes  
  
**
  170. Play Destroy - **Poppy ft. Grimes  
  
**
  171. Pour Me - **Hollywood Undead  
**
  172. pov - **Ariana Grande**

  173. Pressure - **Muse  
  
**
  174. Prisoner - **The Pretty Reckless  
**
  175. Psychosocial - **Slipknot**

  176. Punches - **Noah Cyrus ft. LP  
  
**
  177. Pyre - **Son Lux  
  
**
  178. Red Lips - **Sky Ferreira  
  
**
  179. Risk It All - **The Vamps  
  
**
  180. Sad Dream - **Sky Ferreira  
  
**
  181. Save Me - **BTS  
  
** ****
  182. Save Me - **Remy Zero  
  
**
  183. Season Of The Witch - **Donovan  
** **  
**
  184. See You in Hell - ****Ad Infinitum  
**  
**
  185. See You On The Other Side - ** **Ozzy Osbourne****
  186. Seven Nation Army - **The White Stripes**

  187. Shampain - ****Marina & The Diamonds****
  188. Shampoo Bottles - **Peach Pit**

  189. Shepherd of Fire - **Avenged Sevenfold**

  190. She's A Rainbow - **The Rolling Stones  
  
**
  191. Sinner - **Drowning Pool  
  
**
  192. Sorry - **Buckcherry**
  193. The Sound Of Silence - **Disturbed (cover of Simon & Garfunkel)**

  194. Spirit in the Sky - **Norman Greenbaum  
  
**
  195. Spring Day - **BTS  
  
**
  196. Stayin Alive - **Bee Gees  
  
**
  197. Still With You - **Jungkook  
  
**
  198. Stripped - **Shiny Toy Guns  
  
**
  199. Superstitious - **Stevie Wonder**
  200. Take You Down - **ILLENIUM**

  201. TALK ME DOWN - **Troye Sivan  
  
**
  202. Teeth - **5 Seconds of Summer  
  
**
  203. Tell Me It's A Nightmare - **Kim Petras  
**
  204. Ten Thousand Fists - **Disturbed**

  205. Terrible Thing - **AG  
  
**
  206. That's What You Get - **Paramore  
  
**
  207. There Will Be Blood - **Kim Petras  
  
**
  208. These Four Walls - **Little Mix  
  
**
  209. Think About Us - **Little Mix  
  
**
  210. Thinking Bout You - **Ariana Grande  
  
**
  211. Thought Contagion - **Muse  
  
**
  212. Thunderstruck - **AC/DC  
  
**
  213. To Build A Home - **The Cinematic Orchestra ft. Patrick Watson  
  
**
  214. Tomorrow Never Came - **Lana Del Rey ft. Sean Ono Lennon  
  
**
  215. Total Eclipse of the Heart - **Bonnie Tyler  
  
**
  216. Tourniquet - **Evanescence  
  
**
  217. Trapped by a Thing Called Love - **Denise LaSelle  
  
**
  218. Trouble's Coming - **Royal Blood  
  
**
  219. Try - **P!nk  
  
**
  220. UGH! - **The 1975  
  
**
  221. Unholy - **KISS  
  
**
  222. UNLESS IM' WITH YOU - **Jackson Wang  
  
**
  223. Uprising - **Muse  
  
**
  224. Use Somebody - **Kings of Leon  
  
**
  225. Violence - **Grimes ft. i_o  
  
**
  226. Walls - **Louis Tomlinson  
**
  227. Welcome Home - **Coheed and Cambria**

  228. Welcome To The Jungle - **Guns N' Roses**

  229. What A Heavenly Way To Die - **Troye Sivan  
  
**
  230. Where Did Sleep Last Night - **Nirvana  
**
  231. Wildest Dreams - **Taylor Swift**

  232. Without You - **Ashes Remain  
  
**
  233. Wolves - **Selena Gomez ft. Marshmello  
  
**
  234. Working My Way Back To You - **The Spinners  
  
**
  235. Work Song - **Hozier  
  
**
  236. You Don't Own Me - **Kristin Chenoweth ft. Ariana Grande  
  
**
  237. You Give Love A Bad Name - **Bon Jovi  
  
**
  238. You & I - **One Direction  
  
**
  239. You'll miss me when I'm not around - **Grimes  
  
**
  240. Young God - **Halsey  
  
**
  241. (You're The) Devil in Disguise - **Elvis Presley  
  
**
  242. You're The First, The Last, My Everything - **Barry White  
  
**
  243. you should see me in a crown - **Billie Eilish**




	2. silent lucidity / a conversation with Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeongguk buys a spirit board.

__

_"Well, what is this that I can't see? With icy hands gettin' hold of me? Well, I am Death. None can excel. I open the door to Heaven and Hell."_

[**-A Conversation with Death by, Khemmis**](https://open.spotify.com/track/0X6ph2SjyOCqfnN7rMDtXq?si=fX_e_E5XQNyx3ZPJGED3vA) ****

**\---**

**[ 1 9 7 7 ]**

It was no secret that Jeon Jeongguk had a questionable past.

His criminal record wasn't extensive. It wasn't exactly _clean_ (and honestly, neither was _he_ ), but even so, he didn't believe that the few minor charges he had--for petty theft and dealing drugs--meant he deserved what happened to him in 1977.

It didn't mean YN deserved to be stalked and then later, murdered.

YN was a good person, a great friend, and an _excellent_ lover, if you asked Jeongguk. He might've been a little biased, considering he believed her to be his soulmate, but that was okay because she believed him to be hers. Hence, the diamond engagement ring the cops found on her left ring finger, the morning they discovered her body in the parking garage near her workplace.

YN had never judged Jeongguk for the things he did in the past, even after he'd tried his damndest to hide his record from her when they first started dating. When she found out, she wasn't even angry, which baffled Jeongguk still to this day. She completely understood why he was embarrassed and ashamed of it, but at the end of the day, he'd done his jail time, and--if you asked _her_ \--he'd been released from his shackles a better man because of it.

And she was right. Jeongguk had been doing so much better. Withdrawals are a _bitch_ , and when you're locked in a cell of concrete, naturally, the symptoms only seem to worsen tenfold. Therefore, after being forced to quit using--cold turkey--the day he got locked up, Jeongguk vowed to himself that he would never touch so much as another fucking _grain_ of cocaine, for the remainder of his admittedly pitiful life. 

So when he overdosed on the first anniversary of his release date, leaving poor unsuspecting YN to find him collapsed upon their bedroom floor--foaming at the mouth and sweating bullets, despite shaking like a leaf--needless to say, Jeongguk fucking despised himself for it. For hurting YN, for breaking the promise he'd made to himself to stay clean, for letting his addiction get the better of him yet again.

He went back to rehab and attended even more NA meetings, which always helped him feel a little less alone in himself and his self-destructive behaviors. Then, he'd go home to YN, who had been his rock, his light, his angel every step of the way. Jeongguk often wondered what he must've done in a past life to deserve her unconditional affection in this one.

The morning the police came knocking, Jeongguk was nearly sixty days clean. By then, he'd grown used to the routine of being arrested--cuffed, searched, then stuffed into the backseat of a squad car--so you can imagine how disoriented he felt when he opened the door to be told that his lover had apparently been murdered sometime in the night.

Much like a zombie, Jeongguk sauntered through the days following YN's untimely death--her wake, the funeral, the aftermath--on auto-pilot. 

Any friends he had left had long since given up on him, and his family understandably hated his guts, so his NA meetings became one of the only things that got him out of bed most mornings, and on the days that he didn't have meetings, Jeongguk was entirely reclusive. 

He'd eat, but only when his stomach demanded sustenance, and he'd interact with others, but only after they'd confronted him first. 

It was like YN had taken half of him with her the day she died, and he didn't give a damn how utterly cliché that sounded because his chest physically ached, to the point his ribcage felt hollow, like his lungs had been carved out by all of the grief and replaced with a gaping void, sure to inevitably swallow him whole. 

But Jeongguk found an odd sense of comfort in that hollow, empty feeling. At least, if the void swallowed him whole, he could be with YN again... right? 

In other words, Jeongguk began to feel as though there wasn't much left for him to live for.

Then came the strange occurrences that even a skeptic, like Jeongguk, couldn't explain. 

Now that YN was gone, he lived alone, meaning nothing in their apartment could be moved or misplaced, unless it was Jeongguk's doing. 

So why did he come home from an NA meeting one afternoon, to find a cropped red blouse lying upon the foot of their bed? Not just any blouse, but the very blouse YN wore to dinner the night Jeongguk had asked for her hand in marriage.

He had yet to go through any of her things, finding it hard to so much as _look_ at anything that belonged to her without being accosted by a flood of memories tied to said belonging. Even the happiest of memories are hard to relive when a major character is no longer present.

Jeongguk's eyes welled with tears when he knelt down before the foot of their bed and carefully reached out to touch the soft, red fabric, like the threads would come loose with his touch, leaving nothing but a tangled mess of red string in his hands.

They didn't.

However, the top wasn't there before Jeongguk left that morning and, while he'd long since accepted the fact that he lost quite a few brain cells to all the blow he'd done, he also knew for a fact that he would _definitely_ remember spontaneously deciding to go through YN's things.

His first thought was, _maybe someone broke in?_

But Jeongguk had broken into enough houses in his relatively short lifetime to know what a break in looked like, and there was absolutely no sign of one, which only served to raise even more red flags.

He slipped the red blouse on a hanger and placed it back in the closet beside the bedroom door, opting to hold onto the end of the long sleeve and let himself pretend, for even just a fleeting moment, that he could still lace his fingers with YN's. Then, a teardrop dripped from his chin and onto his wrist, reminding him of his cruel reality, whereupon he slid the mirrored door shut, only to be met with his own sorrowful reflection.

Jeongguk went to bed that night wondering if this was to be the day he'd lose the rest of himself--if this was to be the day he finally snapped and went bat shit--and, if it _was_ , then he was honestly surprised it didn't happen sooner.

He woke up before sunrise the following morning. 

Add _a healthy sleep schedule_ to the list of things he'd lost to grief.

Having planned to finally get around to cleaning up the place, Jeongguk's brows furrowed in confusion when he walked into the kitchen to find it virtually spotless. 

The dishes in the sink had been washed and placed on the rack beside it to dry. The mess of paperwork, scattered from the dining table to the coffee table in the living room, had been organized into neat stacks. The pile of dirty laundry that had been building up near the washer for days, had been sorted into the appropriate hampers for him to wash in separate loads later on.

If Jeongguk didn't know any better, he would've considered the idea that he might've hired a maid at some point and just forgotten, but he didn't have that kind of money. Maybe back when he was still dealing, but even then, Jeongguk couldn't imagine allowing a stranger access to his apartment while it was stashed with _drugs_ , drug _money_ , and _guns_ to top it all off.

However, the final straw that pushed Jeongguk into believing that he might've actually been dealing with something paranormal, was the day he came home from (you guessed it) another NA meeting--with a chip in his hand symbolizing his sixtieth day of sobriety--to find a video playing on the television in the living room.

He shrugged off his coat, sat down on the couch, and felt the bittersweet warmth of nostalgia alongside the icy grief in his chest, when he recognized what was playing on the screen; It was a homemade VHS tape, comprised of footage he and YN took of the road trip they went on last summer.

They went down to the beach, and YN was wading into the water in a matter of seconds, basking in the pleasant rays of sunlight that shined down from above and reflected the waves in patterns of light across her glowing skin.

She was absolutely breathtaking. 

She always had been, Jeongguk believed, but that day especially.

 _"Put the camera down, silly,"_ she hid her blushing face with her hand when he reached the shoreline with it. _"Come get in the water with me."_

 _"It's waterproof,"_ he light-heartedly teased her, but he turned to set the camera in the sand and join her anyway.

She wore a beaming grin when Jeongguk lifted her by her thighs and kissed her, like he didn't care who else was around to see, because he truly didn't. By that point, as a recovering drug addict, Jeongguk had said and done enough embarrassing shit in his life to render him completely shameless about quite a lot of things.

Even with the camera several feet away from them, Jeongguk could hear the way YN shrieked, after he waded them in deeper, just to let himself fall backward and completely submerge both of them. She pushed him away when they resurfaced and even attempted to swim away, but Jeongguk easily pulled her back by the ankle, leading her to giggle happily when he trapped her against his chest once more, with his arms wrapped tight around her waist.

That was how they spent the afternoon; Wrapped up in one another among the waves. 

That same evening, they returned to their hotel room and got ready to go out to dinner together. That same _night_ , Jeongguk popped the question and, to his delight, YN accepted his proposal with tears of joy.

The video then cut from their time at the beach, to the vlog-style video YN had taken on the way out to the car, while Jeongguk lagged behind a moment longer to pay for their dinner.

Her eyes were sparkly and wet, along with her highlighted cheeks, and Jeongguk found himself smiling fondly at the television screen, as she began to gush to the camera about how happy she was.

 _"Jeon Jeongguk, you menace... let me get all dolled up just to make me cry in public. You're lucky I love you so much,"_ YN laughed, patting her tears away from her cheeks with the back of her free hand--a habit she must've picked up from him at some point--before she turned the camera to show off her diamond ring and adorably squealed. 

_"Seriously, though, I feel like a princess,"_ she turned the camera back around and sighed contentedly, " _and this has, hands down, been the greatest summer of my life..._ _I love you, baby."_

Jeongguk was so immersed in the pleasant memory, he damn near said it back, before she blew a quick kiss at the lens, and the video cut once more. 

YN held the camera this time around as well, but she quickly set it down somewhere, then backed away from it to reveal their hotel room as the setting. Jeongguk could still recall the way his heart skipped a beat when he stepped out of the bathroom and rounded the corner, only to pause in his tracks at the sight of his fiancé, dressed in the lingerie she'd apparently been wearing beneath her clothes that night, and beckoning him closer with a seductive curl of her index finger.

However, once his past self had closed the distance between himself and YN with a deep kiss, Jeongguk sighed and reached for the remote to switch the TV off. 

Then, he leaned back against the couch and stared at the ceiling for a solid thirty seconds, before he abruptly stood, grabbed his coat, and left the apartment.

**\---**

Jeongguk bought a spirit board.

Call him crazy--he's been called worse--but it was Jeongguk's last ditch effort to prove that he wasn't actually going insane, because he had a theory and it was, well... _insane_.

_What if YN was trying to communicate with him?_

That was the only thing that made any sort of sense, given the evidence, and as crazy as it sounded, Jeongguk was determined to get to the bottom of it. If ghosts were real, and YN's spirit really was there with him, then he figured he ought to give her a chance to speak her mind.

At midnight, he lit a candle and sat with the board upon the center of their bed.

"Already lost my mind. How about my soul?" Jeongguk half-jokingly muttered to himself, as he lightly placed his fingertips on the edge of the planchette, but nothing happened right away.

In fact nothing happened until around three o'clock, when his eyelids became heavy with exhaustion, and his head slowly began to loll forward. With his fingertips still pressed to the pointed planchette, he gasped and quickly raised his head when he suddenly felt it moving, but initially assumed that he'd accidentally moved it as he was falling asleep.

"YN..." he said into the candlelit room, "baby, if you're there, _please_ say something... _anything_. I just--I need to know for sure..."

To his surprise, the pointer slowly traveled left across the board, right over to the word **HELLO** in bold, black font.

"H-Hello...?" Jeongguk's brows raised, and any amount of exhaustion he felt a moment ago was completely diminished when he replied, "hello! Uh--who am I speaking to?"

When the pointer promptly slid back and forth over the board, spelling out YN's name one letter at a time like he was moving it himself, Jeongguk gave a quiet, incredulous scoff.

"Okay. If this is really YN, then... what date were we discussing for the wedding?" Jeongguk asked because the pair had been wine drunk on the couch one night, spitballing ideas about venues and dates, when YN suggested they get married a year from the day he proposed.

The board responded with, **6**... **1**... **3**.

_June 13th._

So Jeongguk was now 99% certain that he was talking to YN, and he couldn't help but get a little misty-eyed as a result.

"Oh, baby," he cooed, "I'm so sorry I couldn't be there for you. You were _always_ there for me, even when I didn't deserve it... and I still don't know what I ever did to deserve you."

The board then spelled out the word, **S** - **T** - **U** - **C** - **K** , and Jeongguk's head tilted in his confusion.

"Stuck?" he asked. "You're st--?"

 **L** - **I** - **M** - **B** - **O** , the board spelled out as Jeongguk spoke.

"Stuck in Limbo..." he said as though he'd been winded by the news. "Like, _stuck_? I mean--is there anything I can do to help you... _move on_...?"

The pointer slid up to an illustration of the sun then, which resided just above the word, **YES** , and Jeongguk could practically see the fervency radiating off of himself when he glanced up ahead at his reflection in the mirror.

"Okay. H-How can I help?"

 **1**... **4**... **3** , the board replied.

"What does that mean?" he asked, but unfortunately, he received no further answers for the remainder of the morning.

Eventually, seeing as he was far too exhausted to keep trying, Jeongguk slid the pointer down to **GOODBYE** , justas the first light of dawn began to shine in through the bedroom window. Then, he set the board on the floor and proceeded to sleep, fully dressed and on top of the comforter, until midday.

The first thing Jeongguk did when he woke up--after taking a leak and, slowly but surely, downing his usual cup of coffee--was pay another visit to the sketchy looking dude from the occultist shop downtown; The one who sold him the spirit board.

"Back so soon?" the man asked when Jeongguk walked in, easily recognizing his face from the day before. "I never forget a face," he added when Jeongguk initially appeared a little taken aback. "Let me guess; The board didn't work and you'd like to return it?"

"Oh, no, I--" Jeongguk attempted to explain, while the elderly man regarded him curiously, just as he'd done the first time he set foot in the shop. "It's not that. I've still got the board at home."

"Then, the board actually _worked_ , and now you're back, seeking out advice from the sketchy old occultist dude that sold it to you."

"Uh--" Jeongguk attempted to laugh it off, despite the way he lowkey began to wonder if the man could read minds.

"Come on in, son," the man laughed as well, waving him over with a wrinkled hand. "I think I've got something that can help you out."

So--despite still having quite a few unanswered questions--Jeongguk met the man near the counter at the back of the shop, whereupon he was given a business card for one Kim Taehyung; An oracle, who now seemed to be Jeongguk's best bet at finding the answers to those questions.


	3. the season of the witch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeongguk meets a witch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 💜 AUTHOR'S NOTE 💜
> 
> Double update because I have no impulse control!

__

_"You've got to pick up every stitch. The rabbits runnin' in the ditch. Beatniks are out to make it rich. Oh no, must be the season of the witch."_

[ **-Season of the Witch by, Donovan** ](https://open.spotify.com/track/6MOEQCtAWNSCmvg3SFKF5y?si=V8ElB77OTtOqJ2iDbiMwmw)

**\---**

Staring down at the purple card stock in his hand, Jeongguk sat at home and contemplated the pros and the cons of dialing the phone number printed on the front.

What was the worst that could happen?

This _Kim Taehyung_ character could surely turn out to be some sort of con artist, coaxing money from the naïve and encouraging them to continue believing in whatever falsehoods they'd presented him with, all so he could carry on robbing people to make his living.

If that was the case, at least Jeongguk would have something in common with the guy, considering he was no stranger to thievery.

Worst case scenario, if Jeongguk didn't like what he was hearing, he would just hang up the phone, throw out the business card, and never call the number again.

When he glanced down at the spirit board, leaned up against the bedside table, he found himself staring directly at the bold and sunny, **YES** , and that was when he finally decided to dial the number on the rotary phone perched on the nightstand. Jeongguk absentmindedly let the cord curl around his finger as the phone rang.

When the ringing inevitably stopped and Jeongguk heard someone pick up the phone on the other end, he inhaled sharply as he realized he hadn't even thought of what he was going to say once his call was answered.

Fortunately, for him, they began to speak first.

_"Hello. How may I assist you this evening?"_

"Uh--" Jeongguk started dumbly, making himself inwardly cringe. "Hi... m-my name is Jeongguk."

 _"Hello, Jeongguk. My name is Taehyung,"_ the oracle politely introduced himself.

"I'll be honest with you, Taehyung; I have no idea how this is supposed to work..." Jeongguk admitted, giving a soft self-deprecating laugh to try and ease his nerves.

He could hear the smile in the man's voice when he replied, _"don't sweat it. That's what I'm here for. Now, if you don't mind me asking, what is your sign?"_

"My sign? Like--?"

 _"Yes. Your astrological sign,"_ Taehyung answered. _"If you don't know it, I can tell you."_

"I'm a Virgo... I think."

 _"Jeongguk the Virgo,"_ Taehyung said, as if testing it out. _"Wonderful."_

What the oracle was able to discern about him through something as seemingly trivial as his astrological sign, Jeongguk wasn't sure, but apparently it was enough to provide Taehyung with a general idea of the kind of person Jeongguk likely was.

_"I understand you may be feeling a little nervous. Is this your first reading?"_

"Reading?" Jeongguk raised a brow.

 _"I'll take that as a yes,"_ Taehyung replied. _"Have no fear, Jeongguk the Virgo. My only wish is to help you make sense of whatever's been keeping you up at night. So we'll start with a simple tarot reading. Do you have any questions for me? Feel free to ask me anything."_

"Anything?"

 _"Anything,"_ Taehyung confirmed, _"and in exchange, all I ask is that you answer my questions honestly."_

"Sounds fair enough," Jeongguk agreed, taking a deep, anxious breath, before he confessed, "I... I think I might have some sort of... _spiritual attachment_. So, I guess my question for you is... what can I do to help them move on?"

 _"Okay,"_ the oracle chirped, like Jeongguk's inquiry was perfectly ordinary because, to someone in Taehyung's line of work, it _was_. _"One moment, please. I'm going to shuffle the deck."_

As the cards could be heard briefly shuffling around on the other end of the line, Jeongguk let himself flop back against the bed with a sigh, wondering what exactly this reading would have in store for him--if he would be ending the phone call with answers, or if this was all just a waste of time, and he'd only be left with more questions.

 _"How can Jeongguk the Virgo release his spiritual attachment?"_ Taehyung asked the deck as he shuffled it. Then, the oracle selected five cards and placed them face-down on the table before him. _"I've selected five cards for you, Jeongguk, all of which I promise you, I haven't looked at ahead of time."_

"Okay..." Jeongguk said, regardless of whether or not he believed him.

 _"I'm going to turn them over and interpret them for you now, one at a time. The first card will give me a general idea of how you feel about the situation,"_ Taehyung said, turning over the first card in the row of five. _"Your first card is, The World, reversed."_

"Reversed?" Jeongguk asked.

 _"Meaning the card is presented upside-down. The meaning of each card is different depending on its orientation,"_ Taehyung explained. _"Ordinarily, The World represents completion, accomplishment. In this case--your case--The World, reversed, represents incompletion, emptiness, a lack of closure, if you will."_

Jeongguk's brows raised at that, despite his overall skepticism. "Wow. Hit the nail right on the head with that one..."

_"Do you believe this spirit to be someone that you knew personally?"_

Jeongguk nodded affirmatively as he answered, "yeah, I do."

_"Were you close?"_

"We were engaged."

 _"I'm very sorry for your loss, Jeongguk,"_ Taehyung bid him sincerely.

"Thank you, Taehyung."

_"Are you comfortable continuing the reading?"_

"Yeah," Jeongguk said, "I'm okay."

 _"Okay. This second card will tell me if you're on the right path,"_ Taehyung said as he turned the card face-up, revealing, _"The Hermit, reversed."_

"The hermit..." Jeongguk muttered into the receiver, "sounds about right."

_"Upright, The Hermit generally represents wisdom and independence."_

"And reversed?" Jeongguk hummed, as he had a feeling he already knew where this was going.

 _"Isolation, resignation, and distance,"_ Taehyung said. _"How have you been coping with this loss, Jeongguk?"_

"Not well," Jeongguk answered bluntly, which was to be completely expected of someone who'd recently lost the person they planned to spend the rest of their life with. "She was just... _the_ _one_... the _only_ one. I was so sure of it."

 _"I hear you, man. I can only imagine how hard this has been for you..."_ Taehyung responded. _"What was her name?"_

"YN..." Jeongguk closed his eyes, as he felt the telltale sting of his tears welling up. "I'm okay, though, really... and I'd like to continue the reading, please."

Taehyung's smile could be heard in his voice once again as he said, _"okay. Third card. This will tell me what sort of obstacles are standing in your way of closure."_

Jeongguk waited and listened patiently, as the oracle flipped the third card onto its back.

 _"The Tower,"_ Taehyung announced. _"In the upright position, The Tower can represent disruption and chaos, or a sudden change, like a realization or an epiphany."_

"Okay...?" Jeongguk replied, staring up at the ceiling with a perplexed expression on his face.

_"It seems as though you're in for an awakening of some sort."_

"Hopefully not a rude one," Jeongguk joked, earning a genuine laugh from the oracle.

 _"I like you, Jeongguk the Virgo,"_ Taehyung decided then. _"You're funny."_

"Thanks," Jeongguk felt his cheeks flush with the sudden appraisal. "You seem like a pretty decent guy, yourself..."

 _"I try to be,"_ Taehyung humbly replied. _"Are you ready for the next card?"_

"Hit me."

 _"The fourth card will reveal who or what is aiding you in this hour of need,"_ he explained as he flipped the card. _"Death."_

"Well, great," Jeongguk pursed his lips. "Love that for me."

 _"The Death card isn't always what it seems,"_ Taehyung assured him, sounding rehearsed, as though he'd felt obligated to defend the card's honor on _many_ an occasion before. _"Death simply represents change, letting go, moving on. In your case, however, Death is reversed."_

"Meaning...?"

_"Meaning, stagnation, grief... the inability to let go."_

"So, if this card is meant to represent what's _helping_ me..." Jeongguk thought aloud, "does that mean I should _continue_ holding on? Like, _refuse to let this go_? I mean, doesn't that seem kind of... counterproductive?"

 _"It would appear that way, yes,"_ Taehyung confirmed, and he sounded as though he was genuinely impressed when he said, _"you're quite the natural interpreter."_

"So what about the last card?"

 _"The fifth and final card will show how you can progress through the situation. Your fifth card..."_ he began, as he turned it over, _"is The Wheel of Fortune."_

"Well, that sure sounds a hell of a lot happier than _Death_ ," Jeongguk thought aloud, earning another light chuckle from the oracle.

 _"The Wheel of Fortune represents good luck, karma, and fate,"_ Taehyung said, _"the cycles of life, as well as one's destiny, or an overall turning point. Do you believe in fate, Jeongguk?"_

That was an excellent question.

 _Did_ Jeongguk believe in fate?

Considering he was a hopeless romantic, who'd referred to his fiancé as his soulmate on more than one occasion, the answer was pretty obviously, _yes_.

Jeongguk _did_ believe in fate.

"I guess so," Jeongguk shrugged it off.

 _"Well, good. You should,"_ Taehyung replied, _"because the universe clearly intended for your path to cross mine, and from where I'm sitting, it seems to me like your story with YN is far from over."_

"Uh," Jeongguk abruptly sat up, with a furrow to his brows and a bit of irritation in his tone of voice, "I'm pretty sure the line is _'til Death do us part_."

 _"Ah, but you weren't married yet, were you? Death is_ also-- _as we've come to find out_ \-- _your_ aid _, Jeongguk,"_ Taehyung replied, as-a-matter-of-factly. _"Let me ask you this; What exactly led you to believe you may have an attachment?"_

"I--" Jeongguk audibly sighed. "Look, you're probably just gonna think I'm crazy... but shit's been moving around my place with no explanation, which doesn't make any fucking sense because I live _alone_. I'm basically the human embodiment of that reversed fucking Hermit card, so it's not like I get a whole lot of foot traffic around here, either..."

 _"Huh,"_ Taehyung hummed, letting Jeongguk know he was listening.

"First, I come home from NA and find YN's shirt at the foot of our bed... the next morning, I go to clean house, and all of the chores have already been done," Jeongguk shook his head, the skeptical side of his brain telling him there had to be some sort of logical explanation. "Then, the day I get my sixty day chip, I walk in the door and our home videos are playing on the TV???"

 _"Well, it_ definitely _sounds like you've got an attachment,"_ Taehyung confirmed. _"You mentioned NA?"_

"Yeah," Jeongguk replied flatly, "I'm an addict."

 _"An addict who's at least sixty days clean,"_ Taehyung reminded him. _"That's good. That's real good."_

Jeongguk was pleasantly surprised by the chipper response, having initially expected him to suggest that it was just his drug-addled brain that was causing him to hallucinate these unexplainable things.

Maybe Jeongguk just needed to work on being a little kinder to himself.

_"It probably doesn't mean much coming from a complete stranger, but... I'm proud of you, man," Taehyung said, "and if this really is YN's spirit attempting to reach out, then it sounds like she's proud of you, too."_

Jeongguk wanted to cry again.

"W-What makes you say that?" he sniffled quietly, then rolled his eyes at himself for being so damn _sensitive_.

Okay, so Jeongguk _really_ needed to work on being kinder to himself.

 _"You know her better than I do,"_ Taehyung replied. _"So why do you think she would leave her shirt on the bed, for no one but you to find?"_

"I don't know. Maybe... to let me know she's still there for me...?"

 _"Maybe,"_ Taehyung shrugged. _"Why do you think she would clean house for you?"_

"To make me feel better...?" Jeongguk guessed.

 _"And why do you think she would choose to play, what I'm assuming was... a very_ personal _tape... for you to watch when you'd get home with your sixty day chip?"_

"To congratulate me...?"

 _"That is_ precisely _what I was thinking!"_ Taehyung enthused, _"you really are a natural at this! Have you considered meditating to enhance your psychic ability?"_

"Uh, no. Can't say that I have," Jeongguk answered, feeling positively refreshed by the oracle's bubbly attitude.

 _"Oh, well, I can help you with that!"_ Taehyung declared. _"Can I buy you a coffee?"_

Jeongguk's brows raised yet again.

"You--" he stuttered, "you wanna _hang out_...? With _me_?"

 _God_ , could he use a friend.

 _"Well, yeah... that's kind of why I asked,"_ Taehyung light-heartedly teased him. _"I like the open-minded vibes you give off, and I meant it when I said there's more to your story with YN. I want to help you see that story through."_

So Jeongguk finally answered, "okay."

_"Okay...?"_

"Okay, I'll get coffee with you."

**\---**

Jeongguk didn't know what exactly he was expecting Taehyung to look like, but he definitely wasn't expecting the person he met the next day.

With a voice deeper than Hell itself, Jeongguk half expected someone older, taller, buffer--someone a bit more _intimidating_.

But Taehyung was a walking contradiction it seemed, as he was all boxy smiles with honey gold skin, soft silver hair, icy blue eyes, and a fuck ton of jewelry.

His style was quite androgynous, too, which didn't bother Jeongguk, but it definitely turned some heads when Taehyung reached to shake his hand, and the charms hanging from his wrist obnoxiously jingled with the movement.

"Kim Taehyung," the oracle beamed, making the corners of Jeongguk's lips raise, as if his smile was contagious.

"Jeon Jeongguk," he replied, before he opened the door of the café.

So Taehyung gave a polite, "thank you," as he led Jeongguk inside.

They ordered their drinks and sat down at a table near the window, where there were less people around to hear them chatting. Then, when their order was ready, Jeongguk carried their drinks back to the table, and Taehyung thanked him once again.

"Thank you for buying," Jeongguk replied.

"Of course. What are friends for?" Taehyung asked rhetorically around a sip of his drink.

"Is that what we are now?" Jeongguk asked with an amused expression.

"If you want to be," Taehyung shrugged nonchalantly, "then, yes."

"Alright, guess coffee's on me next time."

After a brief moment of silence, and the pair just curiously staring at one another, Taehyung told him, "I've gotta say, you don't look how I expected you to."

Jeongguk laughed at that, considering, "I was about to tell you the same thing."

"Oh? And what exactly were you expecting?"

"I dunno," Jeongguk shrugged, regarding the man's loose, floral shirt. "I guess, someone taller... and a bit more _rugged_ looking?"

Taehyung scoffed at that.

"What, you mean someone like _you_? Mr. All black everything?" he asked, as he flippantly gestured toward Jeongguk's outfit. "Would it kill you to add a splash of color somewhere?"

"Would it kill _you_ to put on a pair of socks?" Jeongguk quipped, having taken note of the man's bare heels, resting upon the fur that lined the inside of his loafers. "What did you expect _me_ to look like?"

"Older."

"That's it?"

"Yeah," Taehyung said simply. "You look pretty young to be engaged."

"I'm 25," Jeongguk countered.

"I stand by my previous statement."

"Kinda just sounds like you're _jealous_."

Taehyung tilted his head at that, "nice try, sweetheart. Taken men aren't my type."

"So why does it matter how old I am?"

"It doesn't, really," Taehyung shrugged. "Just a simple observation. Most people our age aren't ready for that sort of commitment."

"I'm not most people," Jeongguk shook his head around another sip of his drink.

"Apparently not," Taehyung nodded, "which leads me to wonder how you'd react, if I told you that I could help you see YN again."

Jeongguk choked mid-swallow, leading him to fill the open space of the café with his subsequent coughing fit. He finally managed to breathe, "and just what the fuck is _that_ supposed to mean??" as Taehyung abruptly stood from his seat.

"Walk me home and I'll show you," he said, turning to leave with his drink before Jeongguk had a chance to protest. "Come, come."

**\---**

"You know, you're a lot meaner in person."

"I get that a lot," Taehyung said, easily letting the comment roll off his back, as he unlocked the front door of what appeared to be a small consignment store. He led Jeongguk inside and switched the lights on, immersing the surrounding area in various shades of purple, before he made his way over to a door toward the back of the shop.

He set his cup down and disappeared into another room for a moment, leaving Jeongguk to curiously glance around. He quickly discerned that the goods being displayed on the shelves and tables, were similar to that of the place he'd purchased the spirit board from. It made sense, considering the owner of _that_ store had given him the number to _Taehyung's._

But even so, there was something a little... _off_... about Taehyung, and he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was just yet. Little did he know, he'd be sure to find out soon enough.

Jeongguk's wandering train of thought was promptly thrown off track, when Taehyung emerged from the back room, with a _live snake_ on his shoulders. Its scales were pearly white in color, contrasting with the darkness of its tongue and the inside of its mouth, which the snake presented to Jeongguk in the form of a hiss.

"What kind of snake is that?"

"Heejin?" Taehyung asked, as if there was more than one snake present, "she's a black mamba."

"Oh. Aren't those, like, venomous as fuck?"

"Only when they bite."

"Awesome..." Jeongguk took a wary step backwards as Taehyung slowly drew closer.

"I won't let her bite you, though," Taehyung told him, raising his arm out in front of him to let the snake slither down his arm, like it was the branch of a tree.

" _Let_ _her_?" Jeongguk held completely still, and his fingertips subconsciously tightened their grip around his coffee cup, when Heejin raised her head and poked her tongue out a few times, in order to sniff his chest.

"Heejin is my familiar," Taehyung explained, "she only harms those who attempt to harm me."

"Familiar...?" Jeongguk took a moment to connect the dots and, once he finally did, his eyes widened as he asked him, "wait, are you saying you're a _witch_?"

"Is that really so surprising to you?" Taehyung smirked, lowering his arm and letting Heejin tangle herself around his nimble fingers. "You're the one who claims he's haunted."

"Okay. If you're really a witch..." Jeongguk crossed his arms over his chest, skeptical as ever, "then, prove it."

"Why should I have to prove it?" Taehyung asked. "You don't trust me?"

"Humor me," he said.

So Taehyung continued to let his smirk reside on his face, while he closed his eyes and raised his arms out to either side of him, then abruptly let them fall. With that, the blinds of every window around them snapped shut, leaving little to no room for any natural light to shine through.

When he opened his eyes again, the whites of them--along with the chocolaty brown color of his irises--were replaced by a glowing shade of purple, and his once round pupils had been stretched into thin, vertical slits. His full lips parted in a hiss as well, revealing a black, forked tongue, and two sharp fangs where his upper canines had once been.

"Well, then..." Jeongguk cleared his throat upon witnessing the frightening sight, "color me humored."

With a flourish of the witch's hands, the blinds snapped open, and Taehyung's eyes and mouth instantaneously morphed back into their human forms.

"You asked for it."

"Yeah, yeah," Jeongguk rolled his eyes at that. "Do witches normally transform into their familiars?"

"Not all of us," Taehyung shook his head, "it's just something my coven's always been capable of doing."

"And there's a _coven_ ," Jeongguk rhetorically narrated, "because why _wouldn't_ there be a coven?"

"Right. So I'd stay on my good side, if I was you," the witch warned him, "and keep this between the two of us... unless you _want_ to be thrown in the snake pit."

"I very much do _not_ want that."

"Good," Taehyung hummed. "Now, come with me."

So Jeongguk followed him--once again--but into the back room this time around, where Taehyung had emerged with Heejin only moments ago.

"Over the phone, you told me about a few paranormal occurrences which, you believe, YN could be responsible for," Taehyung thought aloud, as they walked over to a set of spiral stairs and began their ascent into the witch's living space above the shop. "Were there any other occurrences?"

"Yeah," Jeongguk said, letting Taehyung lead him over to the living room, where Heejin slithered away from his arm and onto the back of the couch they sat down upon. "After I bought a spirit board."

Taehyung's brows raised in response to that.

"Dumb," he called the human with a slow shake of his head, " _brave_ , but dumb. Do you have any idea what kind of entities you could've accidentally summoned with that thing? _Especially_ by using it on your own?"

"Look, man, I don't need a lecture," Jeongguk dismissed him. "I just needed to be sure that I wasn't fuckin' tripping."

"Understandable," Taehyung nodded. "So, what kind of responses did you get?"

"Well, I didn't get _any_ for a while... but then, the thingy moved over to **HELLO** \--"

"The planchette," Taehyung corrected him, earning a blank expression from the man beside him.

"Whatever," Jeongguk droned. "It said hello, so I asked who I was speaking to, and it spelled out YN's name."

"You know, malicious entities often pretend to be the people we care about..." Taehyung informed him, "so they can lure you into a false sense of security, 'til you're vulnerable enough for them to be able to overtake and possess you."

"Right," Jeongguk nodded comprehensively, "that's why I asked something only YN would be able to answer... and the response I got was immediate."

"What did you ask?"

"I asked about our wedding date..." he explained, "and got **6** - **1** - **3** as the answer; June 13th, which is the _exact_ date YN and I had discussed."

"Damn..." Taehyung's brows raised. "I mean, there's really _no way_ that shit's a coincidence."

"Exactly," Jeongguk agreed. "Then after that, she spelled out the words "stuck" and "Limbo.""

"Stuck in Limbo..." the witch easily deciphered the meaning. "If you don't mind me asking, how did she die?"

"She was murdered," Jeongguk said with a scowl, "and--surprise, surprise--the cops _still_ don't even know how it happened, let alone who fucking _did it_."

"Well, it makes complete sense that YN would be in Limbo, considering the way she died," Taehyung told him. "Spirits that die unexpectedly have a harder time accepting their deaths, so they tend to stick around for a while, hoping to make sense of what's happened to them... and spirits that die _violently_ often become vengeful, so they're even _more_ likely to stick around."

Jeongguk nodded along as he listened intently.

"Anyway," Taehyung pursed his lips, suddenly feeling as though he might've been oversharing, "tell me what happened next?"

"I asked if there was anything I could do to help," Jeongguk continued, "and the planchette moved up to **YES** , so I asked _how_... and all I got in response was **1** - **4** - **3**... whatever _that_ means."

Taehyung's lower lip momentarily jutted out as he looked at Jeongguk then.

"Aww~ _Jeonggukkie_ ," the witch cooed, "I love you."

"You _what now_?"

"Not _me_ , dumbass," he rolled his eyes. "Each of those numbers coincides with the amount of letters in each word. **1** - **4** - **3** ; I love you... that's what she told you."

"Well... _fuck_ ," Jeongguk sighed exasperatedly, unsure of where to go from there. "What am I supposed to do, now? It's not like I can just _waltz on into Limbo_ , escort YN to paradise, then _waltz back out_..."

"No, you can't," Taehyung agreed, "and she'll be forced to move on soon enough... but I might just have a way to reunite you when she does."

"Like what?" Jeongguk bitterly guessed, "suicide?"

"The trials!" Taehyung beamed, allowing Heejin to loosely wrap herself around his neck like a scarf, before he sprung up off the couch and left the room, clearly in search of something.

"What?" Jeongguk asked when he returned to his spot on the couch with an armful of books-- _The Odyssey_ and _The Twelve Labours of Heracles_ , among several others--all of which he promptly dumped onto Jeongguk's lap. "What's all this?"

" _This_ is how you get your girl back," Taehyung declared. "Now, what do all of these stories have in common?"

"Uh... they're all really fucking _old_?" Jeongguk guessed, earning himself a nudge of Taehyung's elbow.

" _Yes_ , but that's besides the point," the witch shook his head. "All of these guys were mortals, and all of them went to the Underworld at some point, meaning all of them faced the trials."

"Wasn't Heracles a demigod?"

"Well, yeah, but he wasn't allowed into Olympus until _after_ he visited the Underworld."

"So, let me get this straight," Jeongguk chuckled dryly, "you think I should be the next mortal to go to Hell and face these so-called _trials_?"

"If you want the chance to see YN again, you will be."

Jeongguk audibly sighed once more. "I'd do anything to see her face again..." he said just above a whisper, leading Taehyung to rest a comforting hand on his shoulder for a moment.

"Then, I'd suggest you read up," the witch said, patting the pile of books in Jeongguk's lap, before he lifted one with a dark red cover. "Have you heard of Dante Alighieri's _La Divina Commedia_?"

"What, like, _Inferno_?"

"Wow," Taehyung smiled at him, "you actually kind of know your shit... and, yes, _Inferno_ is the first part, followed by _Purgatorio_ and _Paradiso_. _Inferno_ is the part you'll need to focus on, though. I believe Dante's depiction of Hell to be the most accurate."

"You say that like you've been there before."

"That's because I _have_ ," Taehyung tutted. "You didn't think I'd be letting you fly blind down there, did you?"

"You've been to Hell?" Jeongguk asked, but it sounded more like a statement of disbelief than a curious inquiry. He looked the witch in the eye as well, searching for any signs of deceit and finding no such thing. "So you should be able to tell me everything I need to know about these trials."

"Does that mean you're actually willing to try?"

"I mean, at this point, what have I really got to lose?"

"As long as you're absolutely certain... 'cause once you begin, there's no stopping, no turning back," Taehyung said. "I won't be able to help you, either. You'll either have to push on and make it through on your own, or die trying."

"Fuck it," Jeongguk shrugged after a few silent moments of contemplation. "Let's do this."


	4. Heaven & Hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeongguk goes to Hell.

__

_"My babe would never fret none about what my hands and my body done. If the Lord don't forgive me, I'd still have my baby, and my babe would have me. When I was kissin' on my baby, and she put her love down soft and sweet, in the low lamp light I was free. Heaven and Hell were words to me."_

[ **-Work Song by, Hozier** ](https://open.spotify.com/track/5TgEJ62DOzBpGxZ7WRsrqb?si=HnDrG8V2Sv6Yfw2O4xpJiw)

**\---**

"Level with me, Taehyung," Jeongguk quietly panted, as he hiked along a sandy pathway behind the witch and his familiar, Heejin, "what are the chances of us actually pulling this off?"

"Well," Taehyung placed his hands on his hips and took a look around, once he finished stepping over a short wall of stone, "I guess that just depends on the amount of discomfort you'll be able to endure."

"I like to think I'm pretty pain tolerant," Jeongguk said, opting to sit down upon the wall of stone, while Taehyung studied the architecture of the ruins the witch had transported them to.

"It won't just be _physical_ discomfort you'll be put through, Jeongguk," Taehyung shook his head. "Even the strongest of mortals have lost their sanity to the trials of the Underworld. Your patience will be tested, your loyalty, your wit... and--as I'm sure you can probably imagine--thoughts of suicide aren't necessarily _uncommon_ down there."

"They aren't exactly uncommon _up here_ , either," Jeongguk shrugged. "Everyone's got demons, even if they refuse to admit it."

"Yeah, well, whatever metaphorical demons you've got swimming around in that pretty boy head of yours won't hold a candle to the real thing."

"You know, I just _love_ our little pep talks," Jeongguk sighed, ignoring a warning hiss from Heejin, as he pushed himself back up onto his feet. "Where the hell are we, anyway?"

"I thought you'd never ask," Taehyung beamed. "Welcome to Pamukkale!"

"Huh?"

"Turkey," Taehyung clarified, raising his arms out in a grand gesture, and paying no mind when his familiar began to wrap herself around his neck like a scarf. "We're currently standing among the ruins of the ancient city of Hierapolis, where this ploutonion was originally constructed."

"Ploutonion?" Jeongguk raised a brow at that, earning an affirmative nod from the witch in turn.

"It's a shrine of sorts, dedicated to the Grecian deity, Pluto, which is just another one of Lucifer's _many_ monikers. It was built directly above a cave, full of a toxic gas that's killed people as well as _several_ animals."

Taehyung frowned as he said it, reaching a hand up to run a few comforting fingertips along Heejin's scales. "The priests here used to hold their breath around it and trick people into thinking they were immune to the gas, so they could milk the place for all the tourist money it was worth. They even sold animals to the people, just so they could bring them here and watch them die..."

The witch seemed understandably bothered by the cruel history of the place, so Jeongguk gave Taehyung a wary look as he asked, "okay, so why exactly are we here, if it's as toxic as you say it is?"

"You see that arch down there?" Taehyung pointed to his left, where an archway resided among the stony wall, but appeared to lead absolutely nowhere, as the tunnel succeeding it extended only about a meter beyond it. " _That_ is what the people of Hierapolis believed to be the gateway to the Underworld."

"But it doesn't go anywhere...?"

"Not without the proper incantations, no," Taehyung shook his head in agreement, before he began to lead the way down to the archway.

"Wait!" Jeongguk called after the witch, making him pause in his tracks and turn to face him once more. "Is it safe?"

"Are you _seriously_ asking me if _the_ _gateway to Hell_ _is_ _safe_?" Taehyung hummed with an amused expression, thus painting Jeongguk's face an embarrassed shade of red. "Look, if you're having second thoughts--"

" _I'm not_ ," Jeongguk insisted with a huff, while he proceeded to follow Taehyung down along the mess of the ruins to the ploutonion, "but it's on you, if I die here from all the toxic fumes."

"You won't _die_ ," Taehyung rolled his eyes, "when we crawl through it, just hold your breath, like the priests did. You'll be fine."

"If you say so..." the mortal sighed, while the witch simply closed his eyes and began to recite an incantation, in an archaic language Jeongguk didn't recognize. Rather than curiously inquiring about what Taehyung was even saying, however, Jeongguk chose to watch their backs, making sure no one else was around to (literally) watch the magic happen.

A few repetitions was all it took for the stone beyond the archway to crumble and fall away, revealing a deep, dark cavern in its wake.

"I can't hold it open forever," Taehyung said, grabbing hold of Jeongguk's wrist to regain his attention, before he added, "last chance to chicken out. If we're doing this, it's either now or never."

So Jeongguk glanced up from the hand around his wrist, over to the ominous cavern, and back to Taehyung's concerned features.

"Never was never an option," he said, making the corners of Taehyung's lips raise out of sheer admiration.

"Well, then, what are we waiting for?" he asked rhetorically.

"Lead the way," Jeongguk gestured toward the cave, so Taehyung moved to crawl in through the archway, reminding the mortal to hold his breath before he began to follow him.

**\---**

_"How much further, do you think?" Jeongguk asked, while they walked along an empty plane of sand for--what felt like--ages._

_"Shh," Taehyung quickly shushed him. "Hear that?"_

_"What?" Jeongguk shook his head._

_"Water," Taehyung said. "We're getting close."_

_"Finally."_

_"Now, when we get to Acheron, I need you to let me do the talking. The Ferryman isn't particularly fond of mortals."_

_"What? Why?"_

_"Just relax, okay?" Taehyung told him, as they slowly but surely approached the shores of the river Acheron, "and trust me."_

"Do my eyes deceive me or is that _Kim Taehyung_?" the Ferryman shook his head in disbelief, when he beheld the witch and his mortal counterpart standing before his boat.

"Hi, Yoongi~" the witch beamed, and even went so far as to teleport himself onto the small wooden vessel, in order to give the hooded figure a tight hug.

"How have you been, kiddo?" Yoongi asked with a fond little chuckle, bringing his cloaked arms up to hug Taehyung back.

Heejin didn't hiss at him once.

Jeongguk just curiously observed the interaction, and waited for the boat to actually reach the shoreline, before he stepped aboard as well.

To him, Yoongi looked like some sort of shadow figure, barely revealing his face--from the tip of his nose down to his neck--and his pale hands whenever he'd raise his arms. This, coupled with the fact that he apparently wasn't a fan of mortals, intimidated Jeongguk, so he did as he was told and let Taehyung do all the talking.

For now, at least.

"Oh, you know," the witch shrugged in response to the Ferryman's question, while he moved to sit down beside Jeongguk, leading the mortal to quietly sigh when Heejin promptly hissed at him, "the usual, I suppose. You?"

"What do you think, smart ass?" the Ferryman smirked at that. "I'm chained here for eternity, lest we forget."

This led Jeongguk to glance down at the bottom of Yoongi's cloak, which hid his feet, but didn't do much to hide the clunky silver chain that stuck out from underneath it, attaching his ankle to the figurehead of the boat.

As Jeongguk began to imagine what it might've felt like to be trapped like that in a place like this, he simultaneously began to wonder if he would ever actually see YN again, let alone if he would ever see the land of the living again.

"Who's the mortal?" Yoongi muttered then, using an oar to send the boat floating on down the murky river, toward the first circle of Hell; Limbo.

"Oh, this is my buddy Jeongguk," Taehyung casually introduced him. "He's about to take on the trials."

The Ferryman must've found it amusing because he chuckled to himself, before he said, "then, he's either really fucking brave or really fucking stupid."

"Why can't he be both?" the witch asked with a half-joking laugh of his own, nudging Jeongguk's arm with his elbow in an attempt to get him to laugh as well, but ultimately failing.

"Brave or stupid," Jeongguk spoke up, going directly against Taehyung's warning, "I don't really give a shit. I'm doing this... even if it kills me."

"You mean _when_ it kills you?" Yoongi rhetorically asked him. " _Mortals_ ," he muttered then, with a distasteful shake of his head, "always so damn _egotistical_. I mean, do you _seriously_ think you're gonna make it all the way down to Lucifer? Snatch that crown of fire right off his head?"

"If that's what it takes to see YN again," Jeongguk glared up at the cloaked figure, with a mix of irritation and determination in his dark gaze.

" _You're_ YN's husband?" the Ferryman asked, sounding far less condescending than he had only a moment ago.

"I'm her fiancé," the mortal's features softened upon hearing him speak her name. "You met YN?"

"Yoongi would've been the one to escort her to Limbo, Jeongguk," Taehyung chimed in with a sympathetic half-smile.

"W-Well, did she say anything to you?" Jeongguk asked Yoongi, desperate for any sort of update he could possibly get. "I mean, what was she like?"

"She was upset, of course," Yoongi answered him seriously, "and _confused_ , to say the very least. She had no idea where she was or how she got here, and when I told her who I was, she looked down at her hand and just... _cried_. I saw the ring and just assumed she was already married."

"She was murdered," Taehyung explained, so Jeongguk wouldn't have to, as the mortal appeared quite disheartened at his side.

"Guess that explains that," Yoongi nodded comprehensively, telling Jeongguk, "I haven't seen her since I brought her down to Limbo, though..." before he told the witch that, "Namjoon should have more information."

"Namjoon?" Jeongguk raised a brow, unsure of who exactly he was referring to.

So Taehyung hesitantly answered, "Death," which briefly reminded Jeongguk of his tarot card reading, and how Death was meant to be his aid. "He's in charge of making sure every soul ends up where they're meant to."

Jeongguk perked up a little then. "So he should _definitely_ know where YN is now."

"Oh, for sure," Taehyung nodded reassuringly, earning a hopeful little smile from the mortal in return, who missed the wary look that momentarily flashed upon the witch's face once he looked away.

**\---**

Limbo, the first circle of Hell, was just as desolate and gloomy as Jeongguk had been expecting it to be. A thick grey fog enveloped the godforsaken area in its entirety, making it difficult for the mortal to see so much as a foot ahead of him, so he felt grateful for the helping hand Taehyung used to guide him through it.

"Any day now, Joonie," the witch mumbled under his breath, as he looked around for the psychopomp's familiar apparition. Taehyung didn't need to look very much longer, however, considering the way he and Jeongguk slowly began to dematerialize.

"What is this? What's happening?" Jeongguk asked, instinctively glancing down at his lower half to find that it was steadily beginning to disappear.

"It's okay," Taehyung assured him, lightly squeezing his hand, as if to silently show that he had nothing to worry about just yet. "Just breathe."

Therefore, as their chests and their arms disappeared as well, Jeongguk closed his eyes and took a deep breath, willing himself to relax with every fibre of his being. Then, when he opened his eyes, he found that they were now standing at the very end of some sort of hallway, fully materialized.

At the opposite end of it, was a set of descending stairs and, at the top of said stairs, stood the Angel of Death himself.

"Taehyung," he greeted the witch with an inviting grin, simultaneously proving that--contrary to popular belief--he wasn't some demonic force of evil that fed on the suffering of mortal beings. In fact, Death's entire purpose was to _help_ mortals, to guide their souls through the beginning of their afterlife, once their time in the land of the living would finally be up.

"And _Jeongguk_! What a wonderful surprise!" Death declared, making Jeongguk's brow raise at the way he'd not only instantaneously recognized him, but seemed _genuinely enthused_ _about it_ , too. "I never forget a face," he winked, letting Jeongguk know that they'd actually met one another before, without him even realizing.

"Wait, you-- _you're_ the sketchy old occultist dude!!" Jeongguk's eyes momentarily sparkled with wonder, before he narrowed them over at Taehyung. "Hey, what the fuck, man? You two were in cahoots the whole time and you didn't even bother to tell me?" he asked, letting go of the witch's hand in favor of crossing his arms over his chest.

"Hey, I was the one who _wanted_ to tell you!" Taehyung said in his defense, crossing his arms as well. "Plus, it was heavily implied," he added, earning an indifferent eye roll from Jeongguk.

"This is true. I asked Taehyung not to speak of it," Death nodded affirmatively, gaining Jeongguk's attention once more. "YN sincerely believed that you would come for her, if you only knew the truth... and while initially, I'll admit, I was worried that your skepticism would prevent you from accepting the fact that supernatural things were occurring around you, you proved me wrong the day you bought that spirit board. So I helped YN speak with you that night, shortly before she was relocated."

Jeongguk could feel his tears pricking his dry eyes when he said, "thank you..." with a respectful nod of his head. "You have no idea how much that means to me, to know that it was really her... that I wasn't just losing my shit."

"She was so very excited to hear your voice again," Death smiled warmly, "and it brings me great joy to see that you seem to care for her as much as she does for you... because the truth is, YN's murderer roams free in the land of the living, completely unaware that he's committed any sort of crime."

"How is that?" Jeongguk's brows furrowed in confusion.

"He was _possessed_..." Taehyung's brows raised with his sudden realization, "wasn't he?"

"Possessed," Namjoon confirmed, "by our very own demon, Jimin, on the Devil's orders."

"I don't understand," the witch shook his head at that, while Jeongguk was visibly distressed, still attempting to process everything he was being told. "What sort of vendetta does Jin have against YN & Jeongguk?"

" _Jin_?" Jeongguk asked, audibly exasperated. "How many names does he need??"

Namjoon disregarded his questions, however, telling them how, "Seokjin is under the impression that Lilith has chosen YN as her latest host."

"Oh..." Taehyung's confused expression fell into one of understanding, " _shit_."

" _Yeah_."

"What?" Jeongguk nudged Taehyung's arm, earning an obligatory hiss from Heejin. "What does that mean?" he asked, expectantly glancing back and forth, between the witch and the Angel of Death.

"It means _the_ _Devil_ thinks _your_ girl is _his_ girl," Taehyung explained, leading the mortal to stare at him incredulously.

"You've got to be kidding me," Jeongguk shook his head out of disbelief, but Taehyung simply gave him a pursed-lipped smile in response. "You're not. Okay. _Great_ ," he sarcastically huffed. "What the hell am I supposed to do about that? Genuinely asking 'cause I have _no fuckin' clue_."

"I already told you, Jeongguk," Taehyung said, "the trials are the only way for you to see YN again."

"Yeah, okay, but what happens after?" Jeongguk asked. "I mean, if--by some miracle--I make it down there, what chance do I really have against the fucking _Devil_??"

"Well, _none_ , with that attitude," the witch's brows furrowed. "I said I couldn't help you beat the _trials_. I never said I wouldn't help you overthrow that selfish prick once you did."

"Yes," Namjoon nodded, "Seokjin has indeed taken advantage of his infernal power for personal gain, which has led myself, and many others, to feel that he is no longer suitable to represent the crown. I believe this delusion of his will ultimately lead to his downfall... for I could tell, from the moment I met her, that YN was most definitely _not_ Lilith."

Jeongguk shook his head in confusion once more. "What even made him think that YN is Lilith?"

"Honestly..." Namjoon hesitated, "the resemblance between YN and Lilith's first human host is _uncanny_. This was the very host Jin had become infatuated with after he fell from the Heavens, with a crown of fire in the place of his halo, and two bloody gashes in the place of his white-feathered wings."

"Where is she?" Jeongguk asked then, tired of beating around the bush. "What is he doing to her?"

"As far as I know, he's had her chained to the throne beside his own," Namjoon explained.

"Because nothing says _romance_ like _involuntary captivity_ ," Taehyung said with a bitter, sarcastic laugh. "Mom's gonna be so pissed when she finds out."

" _Mom_??" Jeongguk's brows raised at that. "Lilith is your mother?"

"Lilith is the mother of my entire coven," Taehyung nodded affirmatively. "She cares for us deeply, but all-in-all, she does as she pleases. Hiding from Jin is something that pleases her greatly and, honestly, none of us really blame her. We pray to her, hoping she will reveal herself to us again, but she hasn't been seen in a host in years... which is most likely why Jin has become so desperate."

"Well, he's grasping at straws," Jeongguk muttered, before glancing over at Death, "and you're right; This delusion _will_ be his downfall. As a matter of fact, _I_ will be his downfall."

What none of them were aware of in that moment, however, was the demon that curiously watched them from afar while they spoke.

**\---**

Jimin had been the one to "retrieve" YN for Jin from the land of the living. He was a spy of sorts and, having felt the presence of a Lilithian witch entering the realm of the Underworld, Jimin quickly moved to investigate.

The sight of the mortal Jeon Jeongguk standing at the witch's side was almost too good to be true. Jimin felt a great sense of pride swelling within his being when he returned to the Devil's dwelling to inform him of the mortal's presence.

"He's here," he whispered in Jin's ear, thus souring the deity's expression, as he sat upon his throne beside his captive, YN.

She had long since learned that nothing she said or did would change her circumstances and, therefore, opted to speak only when spoken to, and move only as she was directed to.

Seokjin pondered the possibility of Jeongguk besting the trials and defeating him in turn, but dismissed the thought from his head as quickly as it appeared, for the possibility of that actually happening was quite low.

"We shall see what the trials make of him," the Devil declared, seemingly unbothered. "Though, I have a feeling he won't make it very far."

"They never do," Jimin smirked in agreement.

"What's going on?" asked Hoseok--the entity Jin had always considered as his right-hand demon, so to speak--catching the tail end of their conversation, as he casually strolled into the throne room.

"A mortal has stepped up to the challenge of the trials," Jimin said, leading Hoseok to instinctively glance over at YN, who met his gaze with a typically helpless look in her eyes.

"Who?" he asked, for YN's sake.

Unlike Jimin, who found pleasure in the anguish of others, Hoseok didn't agree with YN's captivity. He'd discerned, quite easily, that YN was not Lilith (and vice versa) because he'd actually taken the time to get acquainted with her.

When Jin was busy, or simply didn't care for company, YN was left in the care of Hoseok, who Jin felt was the only demon he could entrust with such a task. Little did he know about the irony in his beliefs, considering Hoseok actually wanted to help YN, rather than bear witness to her suffering.

She'd only stopped crying several hours after she first set foot in the cavernous castle, reluctantly accepting that this was to be her fate, her new life, her new home, and Hoseok couldn't stand to see her chained to Lilith's throne like some sort of wild animal.

"Jeon Jeongguk," Jimin answered the fellow demon's inquiry, and Hoseok didn't miss the way YN's face momentarily lit up at the mention of her lover's name. Hoseok barely shook his head at her, as if to silently tell her not to say anything, for it would surely only make matters worse for her if she did. "I saw him in Limbo with Kim Taehyung."

"Do you think he'll make it through?" Hoseok asked, leading YN to curiously glance over at Jin.

The Devil laughed aloud at the prospect, so Jimin laughed as well, making YN's brows furrow distastefully, just as her jaw set tightly in annoyance. She stared down at her cuffed wrists while Jin and his demons proceeded to discuss the improbability of Jeongguk besting the trials.

"Ask me again when he reaches Malebolge," Jin shook his head, as if he couldn't believe Hoseok would even ask him such an absurd question.

"If he even makes it that far," Jimin chimed in again, earning a soft sigh from YN as she rested her chin in her hand, silver chains rattling against her seat with the movement. "I give him 'til the City of Dis. What do you think, Hobi?" he asked.

So Hoseok glanced from YN, to Jin, to Jimin, and said, "I guess we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?" with a pursed-lipped smile. Then, he asked Jin, "may I take YN to her chamber, so she can wash up? I initially came to inform you that supper has been prepared."

Jin nodded affirmatively and snapped his fingers once, releasing the cuffs from YN's wrists. She instinctively rubbed at them once they were free, and fought hard to hide her grateful smile, when Hoseok began to guide her out of the room with a hand at the small of her back.

Once they'd left the throne room and rounded the first corner of the hallway, however, YN immediately wrapped her arms around Hoseok's shoulders to hug him tightly.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she gushed, voice breaking with emotion as she began to cry over his shoulder. "I couldn't take another minute of that conversation," she shook her head, while Hoseok just held her there, letting her cry as hard as she needed.

"We should discuss this in your chamber," Hoseok told her, hands moving to her hips, "there's eyes and ears all around out here," so she nodded in agreement and let go of him.

"You're right. I'm sorry," she sniffled, wiping her tears from her cheeks while she led the way down to what had become her bedroom since she'd arrived; Lilith's own chamber, marked by the cursive letter "L" that was engraved on the blood red door.

"Don't apologize to me," he requested, following her into the room and closing the door behind himself.

"He's really here?" YN asked him then, hands visibly shaking where she'd been absentmindedly rubbing at her wrists again.

Hoseok sighed softly. "I really shouldn't be doing this..." he thought aloud, glancing over at the vanity sitting against the wall at the far side of the room, "so I need you to swear to me that you'll keep this a secret, okay?"

"Keep what a secret?" she tilted her head, her gaze curiously following him across the room when he moved to open one of the drawers of the vanity. "What are you doing?" her eyes widened and she quickly joined his side, where she watched him carefully remove a hand mirror from the drawer. "It's Lilith's. We shouldn't mess with it."

"We shouldn't," he agreed, "but Jeongguk is headed toward the first of nine excruciatingly challenging trials, and you don't deserve to be kept in the dark."

He ran a single fingertip along the reflective face of the mirror, tracing out the astrological symbol of Lilith--a crescent moon above a simple cross--before he handed it over to YN. Feeling conflicted, she hesitantly looked into the mirror and, instead of her reflection, she could see the Ferryman and his boat, floating along the river Acheron.

Then, YN exhaled a shaky breath because sure enough, there her fiancé was, sitting upon the boat beside a man who she could only assume to be the Kim Taehyung that Jimin had mentioned earlier.

"Who is he?" she asked the demon at her side.

"Kim Taehyung," Hoseok confirmed. "He's a child of Lilith; Half mortal, half witch. Death must've called upon him to help you... that's the only reason I can think of for Taehyung's spontaneous return to the Underworld. He never could stand the way Seokjin refused to accept Lilith as his equal, just as Adam had only ever wanted her to submit."

"And he wonders why Lilith isn't talking to him," YN shook her head with a scoff, " _men_."

Hoseok chuckled at that, "you can use this to observe Jeongguk whenever you'd like. I'm sure Lilith wouldn't mind it. Just, _please_ , keep it in this room and wait until you're _absolutely_ _certain_ that you're alone to use it. If Jin ever found out about this, he might not ever allow you out of his sight again. Do you understand?"

YN swallowed thickly, but nodded, "I understand... thank you, Hoseok," she sniffled.

"You can see more of him before bed," Hoseok promised her, gently reaching to take the mirror from her hands. "I'll be waiting outside to escort you to the dining hall as soon as you're ready."

"Okay," she forced a smile through her tears, while he placed the mirror back in the drawer, then left her to wash up on her own.

She spent the entire dinner wondering whereabouts Jeongguk might be, whenever she'd be escorted back to Lilith's chamber to change and rest. Though, resting was pretty low on YN's list of priorities, now that she had a way of keeping track of Jeongguk's progress throughout the trials.

**\---**

The first real trial took place among the second circle of Hell; Lust.

Yoongi rowed Jeongguk & Taehyung right up to the serpent hybrid, Minos, who stared down at the pair with his burly arms crossed over his humanlike chest. As a judge of the Underworld, Minos was responsible for directing every sinner to the appropriate circle.

Needless to say, he hadn't been expecting to see Taehyung standing before him. Especially not with a living, breathing mortal at his side.

"What have we here?" Minos asked the witch, his snake-like lower half shifting beneath his torso, as he leaned in to study Jeongguk even closer.

"This is Jeongguk," Taehyung spoke for him, considering Jeongguk seemed a little preoccupied by the way Minos' tail began to slither around his body. He was sure to hold on for dear life when he was abruptly lifted into the air, making him feel like a tiny doll in the tight grip of a giant child. "He's here to complete the trials."

Minos heartily laughed at that, leading Jeongguk to cringe at the stench of his breath.

"He goes alone," Minos said, waiting for the gates behind him to steadily creak open, before he quite literally _tossed_ Jeongguk into the rainstorm hidden beyond them.

"Jeongguk!!" the mortal could just barely hear Taehyung calling for him over the sound of the rain that poured all around his figure, after he'd roughly landed on his front in the mud it created. "Jeongguk, I'll wait for you on the other side!! You can do this!!"

He groaned from the ache of the impact as he rolled onto his back, weakly managing an, "okay," before the gates were closing between them with a booming echo of metal clashing against metal.

Eventually, Jeongguk pushed himself up onto his feet, his knees and elbows scuffed and bloody beneath his clothes, which hardly did anything to help him stay warm while he braved the storm. He walked for several miles, until his teeth were chattering, his lips were tinged blue, and he began to lose feeling in his fingertips and his toes. 

Who would've guessed that Hell could be so _cold_?

Fortunately, he discovered a form of shelter somewhere along the way. Appearing to be a tavern of some sort, Jeongguk wondered how bad it could possibly be if he went inside to warm up for a bit, considering just how bad it was _outside_.

**\---**

Once YN was finally changed and locked away in Lilith's chamber for the night, she retrieved the hand mirror from the vanity drawer and rushed to hide away beneath the sheets of the massive bed.

She traced the symbol of Lilith over the surface of the mirror with her fingertip, just as Hoseok had, and a giddy smile spread on her face when she was met with the sight of Jeongguk once again. It seemed as though he'd successfully made it into the second circle, but her smile quickly faded when she realized where exactly he was.

Jeongguk sat upon a barstool inside the tavern, drenched in mud and rainwater, and shivering when he was handed (what appeared to be) a pint of beer.

"Don't do it, baby," YN quietly discouraged him from accepting the drink, despite the fact that he couldn't hear her. "Don't drink it."

"Oh, I can't pay for this," Jeongguk told the demoness behind the counter.

"First one's always on the house," she replied with a smile, leading him to glance around at all of the other patrons in the room, who'd been sipping on drinks of their own, seemingly enjoying themselves, as they danced and played bar games with one another.

"Thanks," he nodded, sliding the pint toward himself.

"Come on, Gukkie," YN frowned at that, and when he inevitably took a sip, she internally screamed because there wasn't just beer in that cup; A powerful aphrodisiac was mixed into every single drink that bar produced and, while the demons and sinners all around him appeared unfazed by the mixture, the same could not be said for a mortal.

Jeongguk suspected nothing of it at first, wrapping his freezing hands around his cup and taking the occasional sip from it, while he tried his best to warm up. He also hadn't expected the bartender to casually wander back over to him once he began to feel a slight buzz.

"How's it going, handsome?" she asked him. "You warming up alright?"

Jeongguk nodded at that, finding that he didn't feel anywhere near as cold as he had when he first walked in. "I am. Thank you."

"Of course," she grinned, "and the drink?"

"It's good," Jeongguk nodded once more, looking into the cup to discover that he'd nearly finished it. "Like, _really_ good... _wow_."

"Thank you, thank you," the demoness not-so-humbly brushed her hair back over her shoulders, one side at a time. "It's just a little something to help take the edge off... I know how hard it can get out there," she said, eyeing him up and down with a bite of her lower lip.

"Right," Jeongguk agreed, glancing back down at his cup, before he asked her, "do you think I could get another freebie?"

"Oh, alright," she easily accepted his cup from him, "but only 'cause I think you're so damn cute," she added, lightly tapping the tip of his nose with her fingertip, before she moved to top up his drink.

As much as it irritated YN to watch a succubus blatantly flirt with her fiancé, she'd grown quite used to people hitting on Jeongguk whenever they'd go out, and not once did he ever reciprocate. YN trusted Jeongguk, and she could only hope that he wouldn't break that trust, as another pint went sliding his way across the bar top.

He wasn't quite sure how the first pint had him feeling tipsy already, but once he'd finished downing the second, he found himself regretting his decision to ask for it. If he had to describe how it felt, Jeongguk would say it was like rolling on ecstasy; His body felt weightless and his head felt spacey, while the lights and colors and sounds all around him seemed to intensify and blend together. 

"You feeling okay, honey?" the bartender asked, reaching over the bar to cup Jeongguk's bewildered face in her dainty hand.

"I..." Jeongguk slurred, glancing down into his empty cup once again. "W-What did you give me...?" he asked.

"Oh, don't you worry about that," she cooed, as she pinched the lower half of his face between her fingertips, squishing his cheeks and admiring the spaced-out look in his starry brown eyes. "We'll take good care of you... won't we?"

With that, every head in the bar was craning to look at him with ravenous expressions, at which point Jeongguk mustered the strength to lean away from the bartender's touch and stand from the barstool, a little too quickly it seemed, as he stumbled a bit before he finally righted himself.

"Back off," he muttered, wiping at his face like her touch had tainted his skin. "I-I don't need _anything_ from you... f-from _any_ of you."

"You tell 'em, baby," YN proudly cheered him on.

"I'm leaving," Jeongguk announced then, shuffling toward the door as quickly as he could, considering his current mental state.

In an attempt to keep him from leaving, several hands reached out to touch him without his permission, just as several voices melded together, desperately begging him not to go.

"G-Get _off me_!!" he growled at the hands that kept him from reaching the door, before he began to throw his fists instead, knuckles roughly colliding with someone's nose, someone's temple, and a few jawlines for good measure.

Then, once he'd finally made it to the door, he ripped it open, marched outside, and slammed the door shut behind himself. None of the beings inside attempted to open the door, and that's when Jeongguk realized they must've been trapped inside, desperately awaiting the arrival of new souls to seduce and feed from. He could only imagine how excited they were to get their lustful hands on an unsuspecting mortal.

So now, embarrassingly hard and disoriented as fuck, Jeongguk stumbled on through the remainder of the circle, finding the miserable weather to be a far more comforting feat than a bar full of hungry incubi & succubi.

The aphrodisiac might've been to blame (or maybe he just _really fucking missed his fiancé_ ),but as he walked, Jeongguk recalled the videotape YN played for him on his sixtieth day of sobriety; The footage of their time at the beach, the proposal, and _especially_ that night in their hotel room.

Just the mere thought of _her_ that night--her hands roaming his skin, her lips moving against his own, her hair tangled around his fingertips, her sounds reverberating throughout the room--was enough to tide him over, until he could finally hear the calm sloshing of river water somewhere up ahead of him.

Sure enough, Taehyung & Yoongi had been waiting there for him, just as the witch said they would be. So Jeongguk not-so-gracefully fell into the boat, landed on his ass between the two of them, and stayed there, prompting Taehyung to raise a concerned brow at him.

"What happened to you?" he asked. "You don't look so good."

"They... d- _drugged_ me..." Jeongguk mumbled, lazily turning his head to look at him. "Shouldn't have t-trusted that succubitch..." he scowled, earning a knowing laugh from Taehyung.

"You drank the free pint, huh?"

"T-Two of 'em," Jeongguk weakly held up a peace sign, leading Taehyung to sympathetically shake his head at him.

"Okay," he said, "so now we know not to ingest things just because they're given to us for free."

"F-Fuck off," Jeongguk dropped his index finger, thus converting his peace sign into a flash of his middle finger.

So Taehyung reached for his hand and helped him sit up beside him. "You did good, man... they got two pints in you, and you _still_ made it out of there. I'm impressed."

"The fuck was in those p-pints...?" Jeongguk stressfully ran his fingertips through his hair, in an attempt to ground himself and his dizzy mind, while Yoongi silently rowed them down to the next trial.

"A really, really strong aphrodisiac," Taehyung told him. 

"If you cream yourself on my boat, I'll drown you," the Ferryman threatened him.

So Jeongguk grumbled, "f- _fuck off_ ," once again, making the corners of Yoongi's lips twitch upward with the ghost of a fond smile.


	5. love the way you lie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeongguk relives his past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 🖤 AUTHOR'S NOTE 🖤
> 
> Thank you for being patient with my lack of updates during the holiday season!  
> This hasn't been proofread yet, but I hope you enjoy the chapter!

__

_"On the first page of our story, the future seemed so bright. Then, this thing turned out so evil. I don't know why I'm still surprised. Even angels have their wicked schemes and you take that to new extremes. But you'll always be my hero, even though you've lost your mind."_

[ **-Love The Way You Lie (Part II) by, Rihanna ft. Eminem** ](https://open.spotify.com/track/4aPRuTsiG7B4owTTF8Dm3U?si=uZpQyXB7SYOd2DGO617JgA)

**\---**

**[ FLASHBACK - 1974 ]**

22-year-old Jeongguk knew full well that "never get high on your own supply" was one of the golden rules of dealing drugs.

But his "friends" (AKA some of his regular buyers, who only ever seemed to come around whenever he'd re-up) had convinced him to join them for disco night at the local roller skating rink, just as they'd convinced him to snort his own coke with them before they went in.

"I'm tellin' you, man," Bryce said from the passenger seat of Jeongguk's parked pickup truck, watching him hunch over the lines of powder he'd cut for him on the center console. "This is about to be one of the greatest highs of your life. Guaranteed. This place is a trip."

"Looks like we're not the only ones who think so," Damien chimed in from the back seat, nodding his head toward a group of girls, who were stepping out of a car parked near the front doors of the rink. 

Bryce whistled lowly at their flashy club attire, "hot damn."

Jeongguk didn't pay them any attention, though. He was a little too preoccupied, pressing a nostril shut with the pad of his index finger, and using a rolled up dollar bill to inhale two of the white lines in one go. He leaned back against the driver's seat then, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, as the drug promptly liquified and began to drip down his throat. 

Bryce cut a few lines for himself and Damien as well, before the three of them were finally getting out of the truck and making their way up to the rink. As they immersed themselves amongst the interior of the crowded discotheque, Jeongguk's lips parted in awe of all the lights casting colorful shapes across the walls, and he swore he could feel the bass booming in his chest, like his lungs were a pair of subwoofers.

When Bryce & Damien pulled him toward the line of people waiting to rent a pair of skates, Jeongguk surveyed the hardwood rink full of skaters, absentmindedly mouthing along with the lyrics to [Hot Chocolate's "Disco Queen,"](https://open.spotify.com/track/4IeyHnKDMvCIiUhGVKF0dh?si=CU_OucXHR7C7e_lEV38tZA) until his gaze inevitably fell upon a group of vibrant young women dancing their way through the crowd; The same group Damien had pointed out as they were walking in.

They dressed similarly, but of the five of them, Jeongguk found himself unable to look away from one woman in particular. She wore a silver sequin halter top, a wine red pair of high-waisted bell bottoms, and a rented pair of skates in the place of her platform boots. Her lips were painted red to match her pants, and tiny strings of holographic tinsel were hidden within the soft waves of her hair, leading Jeongguk to believe he truly was in the presence of a disco queen.

He distractedly provided his shoe size to the employee in charge of rentals, as he watched her skate around the rink with her friends, and once he had his own pair of skates, Jeongguk just about knocked some newbie on their ass, by unintentionally bumping into them as they practiced skating on the carpet.

"Hey, man, watch it," they muttered, but the look of annoyance on their face was quickly replaced with one of wariness, when they were immediately met with Jeongguk's hardened glare.

Had he been sober, he would've simply apologized and made his leave. But there he was, high as a kite, and if looks could kill, he surely would've been charged with murder. Thankfully, Damien wrapped an arm around his shoulders and apologized to the stranger on his behalf, before he began to lead Bryce & Jeongguk over to an empty booth.

They sat and exchanged their shoes for their skates together, but the second Jeongguk's were properly laced up, he was rolling away from the booth and onto the rink, leaving his black leather jacket behind without a second thought.

Under a wash of rainbow lights and the reflections of the mirrorball overhead, Jeongguk expertly maneuvered between the other skaters--and around the ones who happened to fall in his path--but he couldn't seem to catch another glimpse of the girl from before. After a few more songs, and _several_ counterclockwise laps around the rink, he started to come to terms with the fact that she just might've been the one that got away.

Though, she fittingly made a reappearance, as [Barry White's "You're The First, The Last, My Everything"](https://open.spotify.com/track/3ZYO0HGRFFdAGeb8o7F9KC?si=p4SKwROJQ5mThfantkv3iA) was playing over the loudspeakers. She turned around and skated backward for a moment, when one of her friends called her name, only for her to end up colliding back-to-back with Jeongguk in the next instant.

She landed directly on top of him and, had it not been for the way he instinctively planted his hands on the floor to catch their combined weight, he surely would've landed on his face.

An irate furrow returned to his brows then, just as his jaw set tight, and he had every intention of telling off whoever it was that fell on him, whenever they'd _get the hell off of him_. But when they finally did, and Jeongguk was able to turn over and discern that it was _her_ that he'd nearly busted his face on the hardwood for, needless to say, his attitude changed with a swiftness.

"Shit, I'm so sorry!" she gushed, kneeling before Jeongguk with her hands frozen hesitantly in front of her, as if she wanted to reach out and offer a helping hand, but wasn't entirely certain if that decision would bode well for her.

"I'm Jeongguk..." he dazedly replied, making her raise a perfectly sculpted brow at him. Upon realizing that his initial response to her apology didn't make any sense, he shook his head and said, "I mean--don't be."

"Are you sure?" she asked, seemingly out of genuine concern. "You just about busted your head open 'cause of me..."

_Bless her heart._

"I'm okay," Jeongguk assured her with a kind smile, but she still seemed a little conflicted. "Really, it's fine--" he continued, but he was unintentionally interrupted by her friends, who were descending upon them a moment later.

"YN!" they called her in unison, reaching for her hands and helping her back onto her feet, while Jeongguk remained sitting on his ass in the middle of the bustling crowd, like a rock planted firmly within a rapid river.

"Sorry, girl!" Jennie gave her an apologetic look, seeing as she had been the one to distract her by calling her name. "I didn't think you'd wipe out like that."

"It's okay, Jen," YN replied, feeling grateful for Lisa & Jisoo's helping hands that were still grasping hers, allowing her to steady herself and avoid falling again.

"Sorry about that, hot stuff," Rosé apologized to Jeongguk, earning an amused little grin from the man on the floor, before the five of them proceeded to skate off toward a booth together.

Jeongguk got back onto his feet as they were sitting down and, as he was skating back to his own booth, YN's friends giggled amongst themselves, light-heartedly teasing her after they caught her giving him a solid once over from across the way.

He wore a loose pair of blue jeans, and a bright yellow t-shirt beneath a button up of a similar shade, which was left unbuttoned and tied at the bottom, in order to reveal the adorable silver heart beside his belt buckle. His ears were pierced several times, and his knuckles were adorned with a variety of silver rings, as well as a few tattoos. 

His black hair was parted to the side and slicked away from his face, with the exception of the Clark Kent curl that draped over his forehead just above his striking brows, and YN swore she could feel the temperature rising in the room with every passing second.

When he rolled past the girls' booth on the way over to his own, YN's eyes briefly met Jeongguk's again, so he sent her a confident wink, to which she averted her gaze and hid her smiling mouth behind her hand, leading his grin to widen as he figured he might've actually had a shot at wooing her that night.

Therefore, he easily convinced Bryce & Damien to turn in their skates and join him outside for a quick cigarette, before they'd finally call it a night and head home, and he didn't even bother to fight the smile that stretched his lips when YN and her friends left the building a short while after.

"Yo, YN," Jeongguk called her name before they could get too far, thus capturing their attention and painting YN's cheeks a rosy red, as her friends playfully jostled her, encouraging her to go over and talk to him.

So she met Jeongguk at the halfway point between her group of friends and his, whereupon he offered her one of his cigarettes by holding the pack out toward her. 

She selected one and asked, "got a light?" before she placed it between her red lips.

"Sure thing," he hummed, slipping a matchbook from the pocket of his jacket and striking one against the side of it, before he reached out to light the end of her cigarette with it.

"Thanks," she told him, being sure to politely exhale the smoke away from his face.

"Anything for the disco queen," Jeongguk shamelessly flirted, and YN laughed at the nickname, but didn't seem deterred in the slightest.

"Cheesy," she called him. "It's a good thing you're so handsome."

"Handsome enough to join me for a night out on the town sometime?" he inquired, unexpectedly causing her smile to settle into a purse of her lips instead.

She shook her head before she took her next drag.

"You're sweet," she said, "but trust me; You don't wanna deal with all this baggage."

"Baggage ain't a deal breaker," Jeongguk shrugged it off, appearing completely unbothered.

"Right," she gave a curt laugh in response, having heard it all before, "and if I told you said baggage included being on the run from an abusive ex-boyfriend?"

Jeongguk's brows furrowed upon hearing that, and--without missing a beat--he told her, "then, I'd offer to track his ass down and beat him to a bloody pulp."

YN held the eye contact when she looked up at him then.

"You'd do that for me?" she asked, as if she was seriously considering taking him up on his offer.

"If you wanted me to," he answered with another casual shrug, taking one last drag, before he dropped his finished cigarette to the ground and crushed it beneath the toe of his shoe. "Yeah. I would."

"Hm," her smile returned. "Well, as much as I'd love to see you make that fucker pay, I'd hate to have to thank you for it through the bars of a cell."

So Jeongguk spared a quick glance back at Bryce & Damien, leading YN to raise a curious brow when he looked down at her once more and said, "I know people."

After a moment of silent deliberation, she assumed, "surely, you'd want something in return?"

"Just wanna take you out and show you a good time," he said. "Nothing more, nothing less."

"Okay," she nodded, taking a bold step closer and asking, "and if I said I wanted more?"

"Then, I'd give it to you, baby," Jeongguk replied, smoothly matching her forward energy with a charming smile, "any way you want it."

So YN held her cigarette between her lips, while she reached into her purse to retrieve a sparkly, purple gel pen, which she then used to write her ex's address on the back of Jeongguk's hand.

"That's where he lives..." she told him, letting his palm rest overtop hers with an anxious beat to her heart. "His name is Christian. You didn't hear shit from me, though, yeah?" 

Jeongguk pretended to zip his lips in response, so YN proceeded to leave a phone number beneath the address she wrote--along with a glittery heart shape--before she let her pen fall back into her bag and her finished cigarette fall to the ground, so she could step on it with her chunky heel.

"I'm crashing at a friend's house for now," she explained, vaguely gesturing toward her friends with a thumb over her shoulder. 

Then, to Jeongguk's pleasant surprise, she placed a gentle hand on his chest and stood on her toes to press a quick kiss to his cheek, leaving a red lip print behind, like a token of her gratitude.

"Call me," she said near his ear, her voice barely above a whisper, before she turned to follow her friends over to Rosé's car.

Jeongguk watched her go with a smile, then glanced down at the address on his hand and sighed. 

He had no idea what he was getting himself into at the time. 

All he knew was he'd be thinking of her for the remainder of the night and then some.

When Damien teasingly wiped at his cheek with his shirt sleeve, thus ruining YN's lip print and leaving a messy smudge of red in its wake instead, Jeongguk thought of her.

As he was coming down from his high on the drive back home, Jeongguk thought of her, and once he was finally able to rest his head upon his pillow and close his eyes, he willed himself to fall asleep and dream of her.

**[ PRESENT DAY - 1977 ]**

Jeongguk winced, staring down at the purple ink of the heart tattoo on the back of his hand, as he let Taehyung address the wounds on his knees with a healing spell.

Yoongi had been speaking of the third circle of Hell--Gluttony--and the trials that were still yet to come, but Jeongguk hadn't been paying much attention, and it was really starting to piss the Ferryman off.

"You still off in la la land?" Yoongi tilted his head at the mortal, "or are you purposely ignoring everything I'm saying to you?"

"Huh?" Jeongguk's gaze snapped upward to meet his. "No... sorry, I was just--thinking about her again..."

Taehyung smiled at him upon hearing that. "You can see it all, can't you? The memories, I mean... they feel _real_ , don't they? Tangible?"

Jeongguk nodded affirmatively. "It was like I traveled through time or something... back to the night we first met. I could feel it when she kissed me," he brought a hand up to his own cheek, "and I could smell the perfume she wore..."

"The trials are messing with your head," the witch offered him a sympathetic half-smile. "You must be prepared for it to happen again, and I can't promise they'll always be so true to life."

"He's right," Yoongi chimed in again, as he steadily rowed them along the river. "Every last one of your weaknesses will be exploited, and your chances of survival are entirely dependent on your ability to differentiate between fact and fiction."

Jeongguk sighed to himself as he silently began to wonder what memories were still in store for him. He was concerned about how much they would change as well, considering they wouldn't always appear to him as accurate depictions of what had really taken place, but he figured there was no use in worrying himself sick about it.

So he decided to roll with the punches, just like he always did, and dropped it for the time being.

"Tell me again about the next circle?" he requested of the Ferryman.

"I swear, if I have to repeat myself one more time..." Yoongi grumbled under his breath, before he cleared his throat and began to explain it to him all over again. "The circle of Gluttony is essentially a mire of vile, frozen slush. The gluttonous souls wallow in it, like swine in a pen of mud, while the guard dog tears them all to shreds."

"The guard dog...?" Jeongguk swallowed thickly, as he recalled the three-headed beast that dwelled within the circle of Gluttony, in Dante's infernal tale. "You don't mean--"

"Cerberus," Yoongi confirmed the mortal's suspicions, "the three-headed dog."

"I don't suppose they're the size of the average pitbull, either?" Jeongguk guessed.

"Feel free to treat 'em like they are," Yoongi shrugged, "they may dismember you quicker that way."

" _Yoongi_ ," Taehyung frowned at that, having watched Jeongguk's shoulders sag as a result. "Not helping."

"What, do you want me to lie to him?"

"Don't _lie_ ," Taehyung rolled his eyes, carefully wiping the dirt away from Jeongguk's cuts so he could heal them properly, "but maybe _sugarcoat_ just a little bit?"

"I don't see how sugarcoating anything is gonna help him survive this," Yoongi argued, "but if you insist."

"He's smarter than he looks," Taehyung said, leading Heejin to quietly hiss, as if she disagreed.

"I'm sitting right here," Jeongguk raised his hand to regain their attention.

"Well, you might want to figure out how you're gonna cross that mire, without being torn to shreds and/or freezing to death," Yoongi shrugged once more. "Just saying."

"He's got this," Taehyung said, meeting Jeongguk's gaze with an encouraging nod. "I believe in him."

"Somebody ought to."

**\---**

Just as a storm ravaged the previous circle, rain and hail shot down from the sky in a heavy downpour in the circle of Gluttony, leaving Jeongguk soaked from head to toe once again, as he wandered into the mouth of a cave. 

It was dark enough inside that he had to place a hand on the wall to guide himself, but the further he went, the more he began to notice a pale blue glow in the distance, which only grew brighter as he continued to approach. 

Then, upon reaching an open area within the glowing cave, Jeongguk realized he was standing before the mire of slush that Yoongi had warned him about earlier on, and that the glow he'd been witnessing, was caused by the apparitions of the souls that wallowed within it.

Standing out in the open didn't seem to be the best idea, however, because the second Jeongguk felt a powerful gust of wind to his left, he glanced over and nearly jumped out of his skin at the sight of a massive dog that lay sleeping beside the mire.

Jeongguk rushed to hide behind a massive stalagmite, before he cautiously peered around it to get another glimpse of the giant, three-headed canine that was the legendary guard dog Cerberus.

"Oh, _shit_ , that's a really big dog..." Jeongguk thought aloud, before he studied the blood red collars around their necks.

While the collar tag in the center read " **CERBERUS** ," Jeongguk realized the outer two were both engraved with a simple music note, and that's when he suddenly got an idea.

Stepping out from behind the rock, Jeongguk took a deep breath and closed his eyes, before he bravely opened his mouth and began to sing.

♪  
 _[Nights in white satin](https://open.spotify.com/track/5bAEhHrokYIg8JWYhYLUlb?si=ivpJBPYSSVKECVDYYDsmzQ), never reaching the end.  
Letters I've written, never meaning to send.  
Beauty I'd always missed with these eyes before.  
Just what the truth is, I can't say anymore  
'cause I love you.  
Yes, I love you.  
Oh, how I love you._  
♪

As a result, Cerberus' wolflike heads shook and their eyes blinked open, but none of them barked nor even snarled, as Jeongguk's voice reverberated beautifully throughout the expanse of the cave, even among the sorrowful sounds of the wallowing souls. 

Instead, Cerberus listened attentively as they stood and stretched, before they plopped down onto their bum with a thunderous shake of the entire cave. Jeongguk continued to sing, while they lowered back down onto their front, their ears folded downward and tail fervently wagging from side to side.

Jeongguk couldn't help but smile fondly at their admittedly adorable reaction. 

Hesitantly, he took a few steps closer, holding his hands up in front of him as if to show that he meant the creature no harm. Their central head jutted forward a bit to sniff him then, and Jeongguk stayed completely still--apart from his singing mouth--until they proceeded to lick a slobbery wet stripe up the entire right side of his body.

On the bright side, at least he was already wet from all the rainfall.

"Cerberus," Jeongguk stated the dog's name with conviction, leading their three sets of ears to perk up. "Stand," he commanded, and his smile widened when they immediately obeyed. 

"Good boys," he praised, reaching a hand out to pet the matted fur of one of their front legs, before he backed away. "Down," he pointed to the ground, so they lowered onto their front before him once more. 

"Good," he giddily nodded and, with that, they allowed him to climb up the length of their tail and onto their back. 

He held on tightly to the back of their central collar, as they began to trudge through the slush of the mire, taking him directly to the riverbank, where Yoongi & Taehyung patiently awaited his arrival.

"Well, would you look at that," Taehyung smirked over at the Ferryman, as Cerberus' stomping steps finally ceased at the river's edge. "He made it."

"Down," Jeongguk commanded, leading Cerberus to lay and let him climb down.

Yoongi's arms were crossed, and his lips were parted, seemingly in awe of the way Cerberus seemed to obey the mortal so easily.

"Close your mouth," Taehyung told him, "you'll catch flies."

"Shut up," Yoongi retorted flatly, before he shook his head and admitted, "I guess he really _isn't_ as dumb as I thought."

**\---**

The fourth circle of Hell, Avarice & Prodigality (or Greed), was guarded by yet another colossal, wolflike creature; Plutus, the demonic embodiment of wealth.

"Satan, my God! Satan, my king!" the demon chanted, in an archaic language that sounded quite similar to that of the one Taehyung had utilized to allow them entry to the Underworld.

"Silence, cursed wolf!" the Ferryman barked at him in the same language, causing Plutus to grumble under his breath instead, while Jeongguk stepped down from the boat. 

"Open the gate. Allow the mortal passage," Yoongi demanded, and the demon did as he was told once more, staring down at Jeongguk like a fresh piece of meat as he made his way through to the fourth circle.

"Mind the rocks!" Taehyung called out to him as the gates were closing between them.

Within the layer of Greed was a crater full of souls, doomed to push heavy boulders toward one another, for all eternity. They argued and bickered with each other as they did so; The avarice souls being far more aggressive than the prodigal, who simply wept and whined each time their boulder would clash with another.

They were all so ensnared by their jousting as well, that they paid no mind to Jeongguk's presence, which meant he could've been crushed by one of their boulders at any given moment, had he failed to dodge them.

Jeongguk prepared himself for the next round of extreme physical exertion he was about to put himself through, but he hadn't necessarily been expecting their arguments to trigger another vivid flashback, considering they had absolutely nothing to do with him.

Perhaps the concept of flagrant aggression versus sour disappointment was to blame.

**[ FLASHBACK - 1976 ]**

After Jeongguk was released from jail, he went to rehab--just as he'd promised YN that he would--but he didn't necessarily follow through with it. 

He relapsed just a few weeks into his meetings. 

From then on, Jeongguk would show up, listen to whatever the other addicts had to say, lie through his teeth about being sober, and then take off to do lines with his _sponsor_ , of all people. 

Being a "former" addict, who also lied about his sobriety, Jeongguk's sponsor abused his title, using it as a rather clever guise to continue dealing coke to people in secret.

The shit was even purer than the powder Jeongguk was selling pre-lockup.

Needless to say, a few more months went by, and Jeongguk was completely hooked again. All the while, his conscience played devil's advocate, telling him, _it's just a few lines._

_What YN doesn't know won't hurt her._

In fact, she didn't find out, until he eventually began to get a little sloppy with cleaning up the evidence.

YN was doing laundry the evening preceding the first anniversary of Jeongguk's release date, and in the pocket of his jeans, she found something that made her heart sink to the floor; A small, empty ziplock baggie with a thin coating of white powder on the inside.

She opened it up and dipped her pinky inside, gathering some of the powder on her fingertip, before she rubbed it against her gums. The numbness she felt there, almost immediately after, was all it took for her to be able to discern that Jeongguk was using again.

So she confronted him about it the second he got home.

"What's the point of going to rehab, if you're just gonna fuck off and do whatever you want anyway?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Jeongguk's brows furrowed, as he tossed his car keys in the dish beside the door and moved to join YN in the living area.

"I'm not stupid, Jeongguk," she frowned, and when she dangled the empty coke baggie in front of him, a look of guilty realization quickly overtook his features.

"Come on, YN..." he sighed, not wishing to start a fight, but it was practically inevitable when he continued speaking, without considering the consequences. "It's not that big of a deal. It wasn't even that much--"

"It _is_ a big deal," YN argued as-a-matter-of-factly. "You _using again_ is a big deal. Just like you choosing to _lie to me and everyone at NA about your sobriety_ is a big deal."

Jeongguk just shook his head and muttered, "here we go again."

"Yes. _Again_ ," YN agreed, "because you seem to care a hell of a lot more about _scoring your next bump_ , than you do about _listening to the people who love you_ \--who _only want the best for you_."

"What are you gonna do?" he asked in a condescending tone of voice, "hm? Call my sponsor?"

"You're high right now," she realized, taking a step closer to study the blown out look of his pupils. "Aren't you?"

Jeongguk stressfully wiped at his face with his palms, "YN--"

" _Aren't you_?"

"Yes!! Okay!!" he snapped, "I'm fucking high!! Is that what you wanted to hear?!"

 _Smack_.

YN didn't hesitate to slap him across the face for shouting at her.

"No! It isn't!" she shouted right back, and Jeongguk was stunned into silence, as he cupped his stinging cheek in his hand. "I don't want you to tell me whatever it is that you think I want to hear! I want you to _do better_! I want you to _want_ to do better!"

"I don't want to have to come home one day and mourn the death of the man I love more than life itself because he was too _goddamn stubborn_ to realize how much potential he had before it was too late!" she frustratedly sobbed, as she rightfully ranted to him. "I love you _way too fucking much_ to just sit back and let that happen! Why do you _continuously refuse to see that_?!"

Jeongguk pulled her to his chest then, wrapping his arms around her shaking body as she helplessly continued to sob, making his eyes well with tears as well.

"I'm sorry... I know it doesn't seem like it, but I really am trying," he spoke into her hair, cradling the back of her head in his hand, as he pressed soothing kisses to the top of it. "I promise you, I'm gonna do better--"

" _Don't_. Don't promise me that. We both know you're only gonna break it," YN shook her head, pulling away from his embrace with a stern expression, despite the tears she wiped from her cheeks in an attempt to summon what was left of her emotional strength. "I'm gonna go stay at Rosé's tonight--"

"YN--" Jeongguk tried, but to no avail.

"--and if you _ever_ raise your voice to me like that again, Jeon Jeongguk, I _swear to God_ , I'll pack my shit and leave you so fucking fast, _your head will spin_."

Jeongguk swallowed past the guilty lump in his throat, but nodded understandingly, until YN turned to go pack an overnight bag for Rosé's.

"Baby..." he tried again, following YN down the hallway to their bedroom. "Baby, _please_ don't go... I'm sorry."

"Call me in the morning," she said and, once she'd finally gathered up what she needed, she brushed past him to exit the room, "when you're sober."

"YN..." 

Jeongguk followed her to the door, only to have it slammed in his face after she snatched the keys to their truck and made her leave, whereupon she cried to herself the entire way to Rosé's.


End file.
